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Retail Suppliers Again Request Stay Of End Of Utility Consolidated Billing
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The Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA), CleanChoice Energy Inc., and IDT Energy, Inc. again requested that the Maryland PSC stay its 2024 order which ends grandfathered residential UCB with POR on December 31, 2025, and provides that utilities are not required to offer UCB beyond December 31, 2025
"Rather than terminate UCB altogether and abandon consumers during a period of rising
prices, the Supplier Coalition requests that UCB be allowed to continue until a viable solution is
reached," the suppliers said
In ending any obligation for the utilities to offer UCB after December 31, 2025, the PSC had also directed that stakeholders negotiate concerning billing in a post-POR world; however, no proposal to resume UCB has resulted
The suppliers said, "While the suppliers negotiated in good faith months ago as directed, including attempting
to arrange a meeting of EDI/XML experts and other discussions, it is unfair to place this burden
on the suppliers when it is not their systems in play. A viable non-POR UCB program that is a
reasonable alternative to what has been discussed from an operations perspective can be obtained
with coordination between suppliers, utilities and Staff. Finding a solution to continue UCB will
benefit residential customers by maintaining the opportunity for them to find products they want."
The suppliers generally reiterated various previously reported arguments, and criticized several policies contained in SB1 which are outside of the PSC's control, such as the non-green price cap
However, the suppliers noted that the end of UCB was not required by SB1 and reflects discretionary action by the PSC
"[T]he legislation contemplates the end of POR, not the end of UCB altogether which amounts to a knockout punch for residential retail competition," the suppliers said
The suppliers requested that the PSC direct that non-POR UCB continue indefinitely after 2025 until a viable solution is
reached.
The suppliers made reference to the previously reported data requests issued by PSC Staff to suppliers, which probed suppliers about billing options in an attempt to identify a, "path forward"
See details on the data requests here
The suppliers said of the data requests, "It is not clear why these DRs were issued late in the
game, especially because suppliers have been detailing the impacts of SB1 from the beginning.
Nor is it clear what Staff or the Commission will do with the responses. Regardless, the fact that
Staff included questions about non-POR UCB in the DRs supports this Second Renewed Motion,
as additional information will be useful to guide the Commission in implementing measures to
provide customers with tools they could use to offset rising energy price."
PC 65, PC65
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November 14, 2025
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Copyright 2025 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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