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PSC Denies Retail Suppliers' Request To Direct Utilities To Continue Negotiating On Non-POR UCB Alternative, Denies Continuation Of UCB, Reminds Suppliers About Definition Of Residential Customer
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The Maryland PSC has denied a request from retail energy suppliers to direct the utilities to continue to negotiate concerning a form of utility consolidated billing without POR for residential customers, as the PSC formally declined to extend UCB for residential customers
Authorization for Maryland retail suppliers to use residential UCB ended on December 31, 2025 due to the end of residential UCB with POR, and no alternative for UCB without POR in place.
The PSC observed that, "The parties attempted to negotiate a non-POR UCB alternative for several months and, as
all parties acknowledge, these negotiations were ineffective. Although it is true that the
suppliers were in a difficult bargaining position, the record provides no reason for the
Commission to believe that further negotiations would lead to a consensus in the short term."
While the PSC said that nothing prohibits future negotiation among suppliers, the utilities, and PSC Staff concerning UCB without POR for residential service, the PSC did not direct that the parties should negotiate further at this time concerning the offering of UCB for residential service
The PSC's decision not to direct further collaboration on non-POR UCB for residential customers comes as the General Assembly passed a bill, which awaits action from the governor, which provides a modicum of relief to Maryland retail suppliers concerning the current SOS-based residential price caps, by linking the price caps to the current SOS rate rather than a historic average SOS rate, and allowing a percent-based adder for longer-term fixed rate contracts. See details in ECM's prior story concerning HB 1532
The PSC also generally approved the utilities' compliance plans for the end of residential POR, including formally granting authority for the utilities to drop residential customers to default service if the customers still remain on UCB with a retail supplier (and haven't been switched to dual billing or supplier consolidated billing)
See full details of the utilities' compliance plans here. The PSC accepted the utilities' plans on all issues, including cancels/rebills, except those noted below
Concerning residential customers which may remain on UCB beyond December 31, 2025, the PSC reminded retail suppliers of the PSC's prior order which had held that, "whether a customer should be classified as
residential or non-residential is determined by each utility’s Commission-approved tariff."
The PSC stressed that, "The manner in which the property is used dictates whether a customer is classified as residential or non-residential, and the customer does not have the authority to dictate their
classification."
As of February 2026, about 6,500 "residential" electric customers were being served by retail suppliers (0.3% of distribution accounts). Natural gas migration data is released quarterly, and the latest report is as of December 31, 2025, in which there were about 8,000 "residential" natural gas customers being served by retail suppliers. The migration data does not indicate under what billing method the shopping customers are being served
The PSC directed each utility to submit a report that lists:
the total number of suppliers in its service territory that failed to drop residential customers by the
January 1, 2026 deadline, either due to the supplier’s failure to proactively drop them or due
to the supplier's failure to respond to a customer’s request to be dropped; the total number
of residential customers in its service territory, by supplier, that remain on POR as of April
1, 2026; the total number of residential customers in its service territory, by supplier, that
were not dropped by the January 1, 2026 deadline, either due to the supplier’s failure to
proactively drop them or due to the supplier’s failure to respond to a customer's request to
be dropped; and the total number of residential customers in its service territory, by supplier,
that the utility has manually dropped.
All supplier-specific information shall remain
confidential and the total number of suppliers that failed to drop customers should be filed
publicly, the PSC said
The PSC directed that Staff submit a report within six months, summarizing the utilities’ reports, "including Staff’s recommendations as
to any Commission authority that needs to be granted after POR ends."
The PSC granted a previously reported request from Pepco and Delmarva to, for bill adjustments after the end of residential POR, use the discount rate in effect at the time of the bill adjustment, rather than the discount rate at the time of the original bill
Pepco and Delmarva had also sought authority to discontinue
accepting supplier charges for bill adjustments after December 31, 2026
The PSC declined to grant such authority at this time, and instead directed that Pepco and Delmarva submit a filing within 30 days that justifies
why the utilities should discontinue accepting these charges at the date certain. The
Commission will decide on this matter after it reviews the filings.
PC 65, PC65
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April 28, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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