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PSC Prepared To Drop Prior Proposal That Would Have Required Retail Suppliers To Use Multiple Different Mechanisms To Affirmatively Notify Customers Of Rate Changes (Including Variable Rates)
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In seeking to establish final retail market rule changes, the Delaware PSC is poised to omit a prior proposal that would have required retail electric suppliers to use two separate methods of communication to affirmatively notify customers of rate changes
The PSC voted to publish again for public comment proposed electric supplier rule changes, reflecting substantive changes from the PSC's earlier published draft. Such substantive changes require the rules to be re-published for comment, rather than being able to be adopted via final order at this time. After the comment period, the PSC will need to again vote on the proposed rule changes discussed below.
The substantive changes now proposed to be adopted by the PSC reflect much of what the Retail Energy Supply Association had recommended in comments on the earlier proposal.
Among the most notable changes in the new proposal is the omission of the earlier proposed requirement that retail suppliers, as part of a new requirement that suppliers must affirmatively notify certain customers of certain rate changes, would have had to provide affirmative notice of rate changes to customers via two separate communication methods
Currently, suppliers must only post the new price for variable rate products in advance, and suppliers are not required to affirmatively notify customers of variable rate changes
The proposed changes would require retail electric suppliers to affirmatively notify residential and small commercial customers of variable rate changes, and the original proposal would have required that the affirmative variable rate change notice must be provided to customers using at least two of the following methods: by telephone, written notice, or electronic notice
The revised proposal now issued for comment provides that, for residential and small commercial customers on variable rates, electric suppliers must provide to the customer, at least 12 calendar days prior to the close of the customer’s billing period, notice of the new variable rate and how to access the variable price, with such notice provided by telephone, written notice, or electronic notice, and with no requirement that at least two of those communication methods must be used
Additionally, the revised proposal generally adopts RESA's proposal to use a process similar to Pennsylvania's two-notice approach (an initial notice and an options notice) for fixed rate contract expiration notices, as well as for any material change in contract terms.
However, while RESA had recommended that the Pa.-based approach be used for fixed rate expiration, the proposed rules still also maintain a separate section applicable to all residential and small commercial contract renewals, with some provisions potentially not aligning with the Pa.-based two-notice approach (for example, the general contract renewal notices must be "written", but, as noted below, the newly proposed Pa.-based notices may be electronic if agreed to by the customer)
With regards to the proposed Pa.-based notices for fixed rate expiration and material changes, such notices must be provided via written notice, but to the extent the customer has agreed to receive electronic notices, the notice may be sent electronically. Suppliers would not be required to send the notices through two different communication methods
As in Pennsylvania, only the options notice, which must be sent at least 30 days before expiration of the customer's term, would be required to include the new rate
Suppliers may continue to serve customers via auto-renewal, after providing the new notices.
In another change recommended by RESA, the latest PSC proposal for comment would not require retail suppliers to use the names "Delmarva Power" or "Public Service Commission" when informing customers during solicitations, and in marketing materials, that the supplier is not, and does not represent, either entity.
Rather, as recommended by RESA, in order to reduce customer confusion which may arise when naming a specific entity, the supplier's disclaimer during solicitations will refer to the entities generically
Specifically, a retail supplier's "solicitation, advertising and marketing materials" must include the following statements:
• State the electric supplier does not represent the utility
• State the electric supplier does not represent any government agency
The latest proposal from the PSC also omits, from a newly required notice of enrollment to be sent by suppliers to customers, an earlier proposal that retail suppliers would have been required in such notice to inform customers of the date on which supplier service will begin
RESA had noted that Delmarva has discretion on when to complete a switch during a window, and thus suppliers would not know an exact enrollment date
The latest proposal instead states that suppliers must inform customers that, "the supplier will begin
supplying electricity when the utility processes the supplier’s enrollment request, which the supplier
anticipates to be within the next 10 business days".
In other changes to the existing rules (with no change from the prior draft), the proposal explicitly allows the use of surety bonds for supplier financial requirements for licensing, and deletes language allowing the use of "cash or cash equivalents"
The proposal would clarify an existing requirement by clarifying that suppliers must maintain records of the "results" of telemarketing calls and door-to-door sales (rather than only the results of monitoring activities)
The latest proposal does not adopt RESA's recommendation which had proposed that the customer list made available to retail suppliers shall include the utility account number and any other number designated by the utility as necessary to process an enrollment
Regulation Docket 3001 (formerly Reg. Docket 49)
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April 8, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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