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Council Sets Hearing To Consider Legislation To Cap Retail Supplier Rates, "Void" Existing Contracts
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The District of Columbia City Council will on October 1, 2026 hold a hearing on a stand-alone bill (26-750, B26-0750) to impose various restrictions on retail energy choice, including price caps
D.C Bill 26-750 essentially includes all of the retail market restrictions and market changes originally proposed in the Budget Support Act (D.C. Bill 26-661), but which were later removed from the omnibus budget legislation in favor of dealing with the retail energy proposals on a stand-alone basis
See more background here
Separating the retail energy reforms from the Budget Support Act enables the Council to hold a public
hearing "singularly focused" on the proposals, "to protect consumers from unfair trade practices in the retail
electric supply market," a statement introducing the legislation says
As further discussed below, the new bill 26-750 includes price caps for residential service from retail suppliers. However, Council Chair Phil Mendelson and Councilmember Charles Allen, who introduced the new bill, noted in a statement that price caps may negatively impact competition, and suggested that alternative measures could potentially achieve the desired customer protection
"While price controls may protect consumers, there can be offsetting effects on a competitive market.
On the other hand, there are a variety of requirements on suppliers that can protect consumers from an
otherwise unregulated market. Some of those requirements are included in this bill. There may be
more, and a look at the best practices utilized in other states could benefit this," Mendelson and Allen wrote in introducing the bill
The standalone legislation, "will enable the Council, through its
Transportation and the Environment Committee, to thoughtfully examine unfair trade practices, ways
to counteract them, and evidence-based solutions. The goal is protecting consumers in a robust and
competitive energy market," Mendelson and Allen wrote
Stakeholders may register in advance to provide live testimony to the Council at the October 1 hearing, and may also submit written testimony
Any provisions in the bill described below which refer to electricity also generally have mirroring language for gas, unless otherwise noted in this story
In line with the earlier proposed budget bill, stand-alone D.C. Bill 26-750 would require the PSC to establish "one or more price caps" for electricity (and gas) supplied by a market participant to residential customers.
The bill provides that "the" price cap shall not exceed 110% of the price of the standard offer service (electricity) or default service (gas)
Bill 26-750 provides two potential exceptions to the 110% electricity price cap, and one exception to the 110% gas price cap
Bill 26-750 would allow the PSC, for electricity only, to establish a higher price cap for a residential electric plan sourced, in an amount higher than the RPS, from a tier one renewable source or tier two renewable source, using RPS definitions
For both electric and gas, the PSC would be broadly empowered to exempt from the price cap (or to establish a higher cap for), "specific market participants or types of electricity [or gas] supply contracts if the Commission determines that doing so is in the public interest".
Under the bill, such public interest determination shall consider:
• Whether a proposed service is new or innovative
• The potential for the service to result in long-term savings for residential customers
• Any other energy-related benefits the service may provide, such as improvements in energy efficiency or the ability of residential customers to manage their energy costs
• The potential costs or financial risks to customers.
• Any other factor that the Commission deems relevant
Notably, Bill 26-750 provides, for both electricity and gas, that an existing contract that contains a price for supply that exceeds an applicable price cap, "shall [b]e deemed null and void as against public policy[.]"
However, the bill further provides that such an existing contract shall not be considered null and void, "if amended to be in compliance with the price cap within 60 days of the establishment of the price cap; provided, that the contract was either entered into before the Commission established the price cap, or entered into at a price for electricity supply that was in compliance with the price cap initially and then exceeded the applicable price cap after the price of the standard offer service changed." [similar language also proposed for gas]
Bill 26-750 would hold retail suppliers liable for any violation of any legal requirement applicable to retail energy which is committed by the supplier's, "agents; contractors; marketers; or brokers."
The bill requires retail suppliers to post on a PSC website "standard contract terms" for "each" contract to be offered to a residential customer
Bill 26-750 would authorize the PSC to require various price, volume, and customer count reporting from suppliers, with the PSC empowered to determine whether such information should be public or should receive confidential protection
The bill would ban residential early termination fees
The protections described above would not apply to:
• The SOS (or default service);
• A municipal aggregation program;
• A single-customer or multi-customer microgrid, and
• The District government, the federal government, or the agencies and instrumentalities of the District government or federal government
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September 25, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
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