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Every year the FTC brings hundreds of cases against individuals and companies for violating consumer protection and competition laws that the agency enforces. These cases can involve fraud, scams, identity theft, false advertising, privacy violations, anti-competitive behavior and more. The Legal Library has detailed information about cases we have brought in federal court or through our internal administrative process, called an adjudicative proceeding.
The FTC issued an administrative complaint against Ferrellgas Partners, L.P and Ferrellgas, L.P. (doing business as Blue Rhino) and UGI Corporation and AmeriGas Partners, L.P. (doing business as AmeriGas Cylinder Exchange), alleging that they illegally agreed on reducing the amount of propane in their tanks sold to a key customer. The complaint alleges that, together, Blue Rhino and AmeriGas controlled approximately 80 percent of the market for wholesale propane exchange tanks in the United States. In 2008, Blue Rhino and AmeriGas each decided to implement a price increase by reducing the amount of propane in their exchange tanks from 17 pounds to 15 pounds, without a corresponding reduction in the wholesale price. On 10/31/14, AmeriGas and Blue Rhino agreed to settle FTC charges of restraining competition. Faced with resistance from Walmart, the two companies colluded by secretly agreeing to coordinate their negotiations with Walmart in order to push it to accept the reduction. The consent agreements prohibit the companies from soliciting, offering, participating in, or entering or attempting to enter into any type of agreement with any competitor in the propane exchange business to raise, fix, maintain, or stabilize the prices or price levels of propane exchange tanks through any means – including modifying the fill level contained in propane tanks or coordinating communications to customers. The companies also are prohibited from sharing sensitive non-public business information with competitors except in narrowly defined circumstances.
The FTC required AmeriGas L.P. and Energy Transfer Partners L.P. (ETP), two of the nation's largest propane distributors, to amend AmeriGas's proposed acquisition of ETP's Heritage Propane business as part of a settlement with the FTC. The settlement resolves FTC charges that the deal, as originally proposed, would have reduced competition and raised prices in the market for propane exchange cylinders that consumers use to fuel barbeque grills and patio heaters. The FTC's settlement requires AmeriGas to exclude ETP's cylinder exchange business, Heritage Propane Express, from the sale.
Consent order requires Consumer Energy, a CMS subsidiary, to "loan" natural gas from its own system to shippers on third-party pipelines if the interconnection capacity with competing pipelines falls below historical levels settling charges that its acquisition of two natural gas pipelines, Panhandle Eastern Pipeline and Trunkline Pipeline, from Duke Energy Company, could reduce competition and increase consumer prices for natural gas and electricity in 54 counties in Michigan.