The N.C. Attorney General today issued a lengthy list of warnings and recommendations designed to protect the public from being exploited by the fracking industry.

The AG is urging the state legislature to approve the proposed safeguards if lawmakers proceed with legalizing fracking in this state, as some are vowing to do.

The provisions are intended to protect the public from high-pressure sales tactics, adverse financial impacts, property damage and other risks the public is typically exposed to but unaware of.

Or think of it as the Surgeon General's warning label for fracking: "There are risks to neighbors, communities and the State itself," the AG's report declares.

Two months after Duke Energy won a 7 percent rate increase from the N.C. Utilities Commisison, the state's Attorney General said he would appeal the ruling.

AG Roy Cooper opposed the rate increase when it was before the utilities commission. Charlotte-based Duke, under pressure to scale back its request, agreed to cut back the rate hike from the 15 percent the company originally requested.

Cooper will fight the increase at the N.C. Court of Appeals, according to our sister publication, The Charlotte Observer. He contends Duke's profit should be curtailed during tough economic times for its customers.

Duke has about 180,000 customers in Durham, Chapel Hill and the western Triangle, representing about 10 percent of its North Carolina customers.

Duke Energy and the state's consumer advocate have agreed to cut Duke's rate request by more than half just days before public hearings are set to begin in Raleigh on Monday.

Charlotte-based Duke, the state's biggest electric utility, and the Public Staff have agreed to cut the rate increase to 7.2 percent, which would add about $7 to a typical monthly residential bill of $97 a month.

The last-minute settlement aligns Duke and the Public Staff in a contentious case that has generated 1,100 protest letters from customers in the past two months alone. A number of towns and county governments have urged the N.C. Utilities Commission, which will decide the case, to consider the plight of state residents in the midst of one of the worst economic downturns in the past century.

The state's Attorney General, meanwhile, has vowed to continue fighting Duke's rate request. The Attorney General, who also represents state residents in public utility rate matters, has in the past taken a harder line than the Public Staff.

“A 7.2 percent rate increase is too much for working families and businesses during these tough economic times," according to a statement from the agency. "At the hearing, our attorneys will ask tough questions and urge the Utilities Commission to consider the impact on consumers.”

Attorney General Roy Cooper has named a new head of the state’s Consumer Protection Division, which is responsible for protecting consumers from scams, frauds and unfair business practices.

Kevin Anderson has worked for the division since 1998. He helped negotiate one of the division’s largest pharmaceutical settlements and worked with the Federal Trade Commission to help enforce Do Not Call laws. He holds undergraduate and law degrees from UNC-Chapel Hill.

Anderson will oversee a staff of 50 that includes attorneys, consumer specialists and investigators.
 

Duke Energy and Progress Energy said today they have agreed to a 2-year rate freeze and $825,000 in contributions to social programs in Kentucky in exchange for getting their corporate merger approved in that state.

The agreement hints at the kinds of concessions the two North Carolina electric utilities might consider in this state to win approval from the N.C. Utilities Commission.

Charlotte-based Duke and Raleigh-based Progress announced the agreement with Kentucky's Attorney General this morning. The two companies announced their proposed merger in January, which would form the nation's largest electric utility with 7.1 million customers in six states.
 

State law enforcement authorities have broken up a scheme to fix bids on foreclosed properties in Durham and Mecklenburg county by a Virginia man claiming to be a lawyer, philanthropist, motivational speaker, Princeton University graduate, model, actor on West Wing and Law and Order (among many other shows) and a championship athlete who holds records in track and field.

The N.C. Attorney General's office has added a few more credentials to Bruce Olvin McBarnette's lengthy resume, to wit: strong-arming local pastors and others to pay cash in exchange for getting McBarnette to back off from bidding on foreclosed properties.

The state AG said today that McBarnette, of Sterling, Va., was fined $47,400 for rigging four auction bids and attempting to rig seven other bids between October 2009 and March 2010.

His victims in Durham included a pastor seeking to buy property for her church, another pastor seeking to buy property for neighborhood revitalization, and a man who was buying a foreclosed home for his mother.

Medicare recipients need to be on the alert for a new telephone scam designed to get their personal financial information.

About 20 North Carolinians have complained to the N.C. Attorney General's office in recent weeks of getting calls that claim to come from Medicare, asking for personal financial information such as their checking account number.

Two home repair companies have to pay $50,000 each for violating state consumer laws.

In North Carolina, consumers have the right to cancel most contracts from door-to-door sales or in-home solicitations within three days of signing the agreement.

In 2008, Attorney General Roy Cooper's office filed lawsuits against the Window Pros, a replacement window company in Statesville, and H.A.R.D. Top Asphalt Maintenance, a paving contractor in Pender County, for violating that law. Last week, Wake County Superior Court Judge Michael R. Morgan signed permanent injunctions against both companies.

Attorney General Roy Cooper has named a new director for the state's Consumer Protection Division.

Adam Hartzell, 40, will begin serving as senior deputy attorney general of the Consumer Protection Division in May.

Hartzell is currently the executive director of Interact, a non-profit agency that serves victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.  He previously practiced law in Wake County and worked as a journalist covering Wall Street.  

“This tough economy makes avoiding scams and spending wisely even more important for North Carolina consumers,” Cooper said in a news release. “Adam will help us continue our fight against unfair business practices on behalf of North Carolinians.”

Hartzell will oversee a staff of more than 50 that includes attorneys, consumer specialists and investigators, and support personnel. The division handled more than 22,000 complaints from North Carolina consumers last year.

North Carolina's top consumer advocate is leaving after a year in the job to become a commissioner with the Federal Trade Commission.

Julie Brill was confirmed late Wednesday by the U.S. Senate. Brill became the senior deputy attorney general and chief of consumer protection and antitrust for the N.C. Department of Justice in February, 2009.

"Julie Brill is a tireless advocate for consumers," N.C. Attorney General Roy Cooper said in a statement. "I know she will continue to work hard for consumers' rights across the nation just as she has done here in North Carolina."

As a member of the N.C. Attorney General's office, Brill worked to resolve cases against pharmaceutical companies and banks, and increased assistance available to homeowners facing foreclosure and debt collectors.

Before joining the AG's office, Brill spent more than 20 years in a similar role in Vermont.

President Barack Obama nominated Brill to the FTC position last fall.

Noelle Talley, spokeswoman for Cooper's office, said that the AG's office is looking for a replacement for Brill.