People's Counsel Renews Petition For Rulemaking To Clarify New Law Prohibiting Retail Suppliers From Serving Energy Assistance Customers Outside Of A PSC-Approved Product -- EnergyChoiceMatters.com

People's Counsel Renews Petition For Rulemaking To Clarify New Law Prohibiting Retail Suppliers From Serving Energy Assistance Customers Outside Of A PSC-Approved Product

June 29, 2022

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Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com

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The Maryland Office of People's Counsel renewed its petition for the Maryland PSC to adopt regulations to implement a 2021 law [Chapter 637; amending the annotated code Section 4-308] that prohibits retail electric and gas supplier service to energy assistance customers outside of a PSC-approved plan that is less than SOS

As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, OPC had initially sought the rulemaking in May. Shortly after OPC filed its petition, the PSC opened PC 55, "for the limited purpose of receiving written comments from stakeholders and the public regarding the implementation of Chapter 637 by the Commission."

OPC sought clarification concerning the interaction between its original petition and the PC 55. The PSC has not issued any guidance in response to OPC's request.

OPC thus re-filed its petition formally in PC 55

"Having received no response to its request, and to ensure OPC’s proposals for implementation of PUA § 4-308 are duly considered, OPC hereby encloses its earlier filed petition, along with the proposed regulations originally attached to that document, for filing and consideration within PC 55," OPC said

As more fully discussed in our prior story (see details here), OPC says that a rulemaking is needed, among other reasons, to clarify the "look back" period in PUA § 4-308(b).

The act prohibits the sale of unapproved energy supply offers to any households that received energy assistance "during the previous fiscal year[.]"

In particular, OPC said that, absent clarifying regulation, the statute, due to the term "previous" fiscal year, could be read as, "prohibit[ing] the retail supplier from selling an unapproved offer to the customer who has not received assistance in the past 12 months but does not apply to a customer who received assistance during the previous month -- a result that arguably is absurd and unintended."

In convening PC 55, the PSC noted that, on May 30, 2021, Maryland enacted Chapter 637 of the Laws of Maryland (2021), amending Public Utilities Article, Annotated Code of Maryland, § 4-308. Chapter 637 requires the Commission to establish an administrative process to approve supply offers for electricity or gas for households in the State that receive energy assistance through a program administered by the Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP), a unit of the Maryland Department of Human Services.

Chapter 637 provides minimum standards for approved supply offers and further provides restrictions on the ability of suppliers without an approved offer to do business with customers who are currently or have within the prior fiscal year received assistance through OHEP-administered programs.

The PSC sought comments by July 11 on implementation of the law. The PSC said that comments should at a minimum address the following:

1. Any issues or procedures that may need to be resolved or established via order or regulation ahead of implementation, including but not limited to definitions of statutory terms, processes for application and approval of supplier offers, customer eligibility requirements and determinations; data sharing, relative valuation of SOS or gas commodity rates and supply offers, reporting procedures, and any other topics necessary to comply with Chapter 637;
2. Suggested procedural timelines necessary for Commission action and stakeholder implementation of the requirements of Chapter 637, and implementation constraints that require coordination among stakeholders; and
3. Other issues about the interpretation of specific language of Chapter 637.

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