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Utilities Report Barriers To Use Of Supplier-Specific Purchase Of Receivables Discount Rates
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Responding to a data request as part of the District of Columbia's investigation of the purchase of receivables (POR) programs, Pepco in Washington D.C. informed the D.C. PSC that Pepco would not be able to implement POR discount rates specific to each retail electric supplier's uncollectibles in time for the next annual POR discount rate-setting application
Separately, Washington Gas Light also does not believe that it is
possible to implement supplier-specific POR discounts before the next annual
discount rate application, which is due in April 2026
Pepco in D.C. does not currently track, by each individual retail supplier, a specific supplier's uncollectibles or late payment revenues (currently used as a POR discount offset). Such amounts are tracked only in aggregate for each of three customer class groupings (Residential, Small Commercial, Large Commercial).
Pepco said that it could not estimate the cost of implementing supplier-specific POR discount rates at this time, due to the need to first have detailed analyses and business requirements established for the needed system changes, in order to then
determine the scope and associated costs.
Pepco noted that there are about 45 unique retail suppliers serving the three customer classes.
Pepco stated, "Moving to supplier-specific
discount rates would increase complexity significantly, potentially requiring over 120
unique discount rates compared to the current three."
Pepco said that "substantial" system changes would be needed to implement supplier-specific POR discount rates
"These include expanding or creating discount tables to
incorporate supplier codes, modifying payment creation programs to query rates by
supplier, and maintaining records for every supplier and rate category. Additional
changes would be needed for late payment charge processing, including system
configuration updates and billing program modifications, which would apply across all
suppliers (including all other jurisdictions served by Pepco Holdings Inc., outside of the
District of Columbia), and bill redesign for the Third-Party Supplier section on customer
bills. This process would also require ongoing maintenance as new suppliers enter the
market," Pepco said
"[W]hile technically feasible, this change involves significant development
effort, increased complexity and administrative burdens, extended timelines
(conservatively 9–10 months end-to-end), and ongoing maintenance," Pepco said
"There are several
elements of the system update that require detailed analysis and business requirements to
determine scope and associated costs. These assessments are complex and may require
several weeks to complete. Consequently, Pepco cannot provide cost estimates until the
requirements are fully defined," Pepco said
Similarly, in separate comments, WGL said that it could not provide specific cost data or implementation time information due to the lack of a specific design for, or details to govern, any supplier-specific POR discount mechanism
FC PEPPOR-2025-01, WGPOR-2025-01
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January 6, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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