SAN RAFAEL, California – Executives of a Marin County power company face charges of consumer fraud after bilking an estimated 3,000 customers out of more than $1 million by selling “recycled electricity” – a product that doesn’t exist.

GreenAgain Energy, which had billed itself as a Marin County start-up, had convinced customers to pay a premium price for their electricity, alleging some form of environmental benefit. As it turns out, the company offered nothing out of the ordinary, just plain old electricity, at a very high price. This all came to light as the result of an interview given to a local newspaper by a former employee of the company, who was mistakenly copied in on an email that detailed the fraud.

“They gave me a green energy certificate and everything,” said one well-off customer who could certainly afford the extra $80 a month that GreenAgain Energy was charging for what marketing materials promised was “The customer, who refused to be identified, also said that he had been taken in by the company’s slick marketing materials, which talked of a smaller carbon footprint and other intangible benefits.

One particularly irate woman said that she had recommended GreenAgain to more than a dozen people, including her yoga instructor, her hairdresser, and her therapist. “I actually used the phrase ‘electron waste,’” the woman said, “out loud, multiple times. Now I can’t show my face at the farmer’s market.” 

“Looking back,” said another customer, sipping on a green smoothie outside Whole Foods, “I should have questioned how you recycle electricity. They did show me a slick video that seemed to explain it all. But STEM was never my strong suit, and I thought it was just the next iteration of renewable energy. I didn’t want to be the last of my friends using ‘virgin’ electricity.”

At latest report, FTC officials had joined state officials in seeking the company executives, who had fled in the face of multiple charges of fraud and theft by deception.