LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a motion on Thursday asking the Public Service Commission to investigate Summit Utilities.
This comes as a federal judge is assigned to take over the lawsuit against the company.
Earlier this year, the attorney general opened an investigation into Summit Utilities after he received several complaints of outrageous bills— nearly 3,000 people came forward with the same story.
Griffin said he found that some bills showed there was no payment made when customers have paid, and estimated bills were showing unusually high payments that customers said weren't correct.
"We've made some progress on some fronts and identified some issues," Griffin said. "It's not done yet."
Now, he's asking the Public Service Commission to step in and conduct its own investigation on how much Summit is paying for the natural gas and its billing practices.
Griffin said natural gas has gone up 35% in the last year. He added there are more than 160,000 Summit customers in Arkansas who have been impacted by these issues.
Judge Billy Roy Wilson has taken over the class action lawsuit filed earlier this month as it moves to federal court.
According to Scott Poynter, the attorney suing Summit, the judge will decide whether or not to continue the temporary restraining order, which allows Summit customers to stop paying their bills for 14 days.
The judge has not scheduled a hearing, but we were told he will decide after reading both briefs from the parties.