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District Court Formally Issues Order Preliminarily Enjoining Maryland From Enforcing Statute Governing Green Power Pricing, Marketing Language
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The U.S. District Court for the District Of Maryland, Northern Division has formally issued an order preliminarily enjoining the state and relevant agencies, including the PSC and Attorney General, from, "implementing, enforcing, or otherwise carrying out," Section 7-707(c) of the Maryland Public Utilities Code, which includes provisions imposing a price cap on green power, and governing the marketing of green power products, such products' green content, and required language for disclosures
As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, the District Court had been directed to issue such injunction by the U.S. 4th Circuit Court of Appeals
The injunction is preliminary and is to be in place pending the district court's consideration of, and judgment on, a suit brought against SB1 by Green Mountain Energy and the Retail Energy Advancement League
As previously noted by ECM, the preliminary injunction only applies to the green power provisions of SB1, specifically under Section 7-707(c). No injunction has been issued concerning other aspects of SB1, including the prohibition on residential purchase of receivables, and the general price caps applicable to residential products which are not deemed "green power"
Left undisturbed by the preliminary injunction is the following statutory provision: "In this section [7-707], 'green power' means energy sources or renewable energy credits that are marketed as clean, green, eco–friendly, environmentally friendly or responsible, carbon–free, renewable, 100% renewable, 100% wind, 100% hydro, 100% solar, 100% emission–free, or similar claims."
However, the preliminary injunction does prohibit enforcement of the requirement that a "green power" offer must include Maryland RPS-eligible RECs in an amount that, at a minimum, reflects the higher of: (1) 51% renewable or (2) 1% higher than the RPS
The preliminary injunction also prohibits a price cap on "green power" products, and preliminarily enjoins enforcement of a green power price cap established on a market-wide basis by the PSC (and any individual supplier-specific green power price caps that retail suppliers are authorized to seek)
The otherwise applicable non-green residential price caps, including the updated caps under 2026's HB 1532, specifically exclude green power products from such standard price cap provisions
As such, enforcement of price caps for "green power" products has been preliminarily enjoined, and, more notably, enforcement of SB1's provision defining the minimum attributes for a "green power" product has been preliminarily enjoined
However, green power offers in Maryland still face a significant barrier due to the lack of both residential purchase of receivables and, even without POR, the lack of utility consolidated billing
As first reported by EnergyChoiceMatters.com, only one retail supplier as of May 2026 had more than a handful of residential customers served under dual billing (see full details on customers served by each supplier in our prior story here)
The District Court also set forth a procedural schedule to address the merits of the suit filed by Green Mountain Energy and REAL against SB1
The parties have agreed that the parties will file cross-motions for partial summary judgment addressing the
following issues implicated by the remand from the Fourth Circuit: (1) whether the district court should
permanently enjoin Section 7-707(c) of the Maryland Public Utilities Code; (2) whether the "new
disclosure language" promulgated by the PSC for green power products is unconstitutional, and (3) whether other provisions of Maryland Senate Bill 1 are severable from Section 7-707(c) of the Maryland Public Utilities Code.
The third question is the key issue for retail suppliers, as, if the green power statutory provisions are ruled unconstitutional, and if the court finds that such unconstitutional provisions cannot be severed from SB1 as a whole, the entirety of SB1 would be struck, including SB1's non-green price caps and the residential POR prohibition
While the appeals court, in granting the preliminary injunction limited to green power provisions, did not decide on the ultimate merits of severability, the appeals court did find, at this point in the proceeding, "we do not consider the remaining provisions of S.B. 1 incomplete or incapable of being executed in accordance with legislative intent to override the 'strong presumption' that an invalid portion of a statute 'be severed,'" as the appeals court further noted that, "In Maryland, unless stated otherwise in the statute itself, 'the provisions of all statutes . . . are severable,'" (see further discussion on severability here)
Regardless, even if the entirety of SB 1 were to be struck, retail suppliers would still face significant challenges in Maryland.
Subsequent to SB1, new statutory provisions imposing revised price caps on non-green residential products became law in 2026, and these new price caps would not be struck if SB1 itself is invalidated.
Additionally, POR was created by the PSC itself, not statute, and the elimination of a statutory provision banning residential POR would not compel the PSC to re-introduce residential POR, or even compel the PSC to re-introduce non-POR residential utility consolidated billing
Docket: U.S. District Court for the District Of Maryland, Northern Division, Civil Action No. 1:24-cv-2820-JRR
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June 23, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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