12 December 2006

Lawsuit Alleges Corporate Corruption at Cinergy

This is amazing. A former Cinergy (now owned by Duke Energy, although Duke had nothing to do with this) employee claims Cinergy paid kickbacks to industrial customers in exchange for their support for a PUCO rate hike approval in 2004.

And get this:

Although Cinergy Retail did not make any sales in 2005, it made option payments to the large customers that were the equivalent of the CG&E rate increase approved by the Public Utilities Commission in 2004.

That means large corporations didn't pay the higher rate. It means individuals, families and small businesses subsidized electric power for large corporations. That's corporate welfare.

So far there is only this lawsuit filed by the employee (who was terminated) against the company. I wonder if the state can also file suit against the company. It seems justified in this case. Either that or a class action. The Duke board is going to have a fit if that happens.

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