About four hundred Iowans will get a refund from their propane company. The Iowa Attorney General’s office sued the “Level Propane” company, accusing it of bilking consumers.
The company promised prices would be locked in until this April, but the prices doubled, then tripled. Attorney General’s spokesman Bob Brammer says the company had other nasty surprises for its customers in Iowa and seven other states.
The company charged an “under-utilization fee” to penalize customers who didn’t use “enough” propane. Worst, Brammer says, some of the firm’s 400 or customers in Iowa didn’t even know if they’d have propane to get through the winter.
Brammer says people couldn’t connect, got threatening collection letters, and were treated badly. The settlement with eight states includes a 90-thousand dollar payment to Iowa, and restitution to customers. They don’t have to do anything: all homeowners will get a letter telling them how to file a claim.