The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ordered American Efficient, LLC to pay a $722 million civil fine and repay $410 million in past profits, plus interest, after a multi-year investigation into what FERC called "one of the largest and most brazen frauds" in its history. The total reaches $1.132 billion before interest.

The company operates out of a Foster Street office in downtown Durham and is part of a holding entity named Modern Energy, led by Benjamin Abram. Abram is the husband of state Sen. Sophia Chitlik, a Democrat representing Durham County.

FERC's five-member commission, made up of three Republicans and two Democrats, issued the order unanimously on April 15, 2026.

American Efficient describes itself as an energy efficiency aggregator. Rather than generating power, it commits to delivering demand reductions to grid operators by paying manufacturers and sellers of energy-efficient products for the environmental rights to those goods, then bidding them into wholesale markets. The company says its work across more than two dozen states has eliminated the need for four conventional power plants and avoided 10 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent.

FERC accused the company of running a "sweeping money-for-nothing" scheme in the MISO and PJM regional capacity markets by falsely claiming ownership of energy-efficiency resources it never controlled. "American Efficient never had these rights, despite repeatedly attesting in its submissions to PJM and MISO that it did," the commission wrote in its order. Federal regulators say the scheme extracted nearly $500 million from consumers.

According to the order, American Efficient claimed rights to huge volumes of energy-efficient goods like refrigerators and LED bulbs that retailers sold in the states where it operated. The company used retail sales data and spreadsheets to assert those purchases were its "resources" in the wholesale markets. But FERC found it had no contracts with the manufacturers or end-users, paid no rebates, and did nothing to influence whether shoppers bought the products.

Because the products would have sold anyway, the commission concluded the efficiency savings American Efficient bid into PJM and MISO were not additional. Grid operators, and the consumers whose bills fund them, were paying for energy reductions the company never actually caused.

American Efficient denies it acted illegally and has sued FERC. The company has operated in federally regulated capacity markets since 2014.