The record-high penalty the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission levied against an energy distribution company that allegedly overcharged customers during the 2014 polar vortex has been upheld under a ruling issued by a sharply divided Commonwealth Court.
An en banc panel of the appellate court ruled 4-3 on Thursday that a nearly $2 million civil penalty the PUC imposed against electric distribution company HIKO Energy was not impermissibly excessive, even though it was the highest penalty that the PUC had ordered in its nearly 80-year history.
