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Retail Supplier Says Some Suppliers Have 30% Arrears Rate; Seeks POR Changes To End "Subsidization" Of "High-Risk" Portfolios
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WGL Energy said in a presentation concerning a proposed tiered discount rate structure for the purchase of receivables programs in the District of Columbia that certain retail suppliers have an Arrears Rate above 30%
WGL Energy said that data from utility Washington Gas, "already demonstrates dramatically different customer payment performance by supplier (residential)."
WGL Energy included the following data of retail supplier Arrears Rates:
WGL Energy said, "Current [POR] methodology creates no incentive to improve collections."
While WGL Energy recommended that there be no change to POR discount rates until utilities provide the payment transparency necessary to evaluate actual supplier-specific bad debt performance, WGL Energy said that such supplier-specific data could serve as the foundation for a future three-tier discount structure
In such case, WGL Energy proposed three tiers of arrears performance, which would then route a supplier into a specific tiered discount rate
WGL Energy's proposed tiers are
Tier 1 Arrears rate ≤ 5% -- Lowest discount
Tier 2 Arrears rate >5% to 15% -- Moderate discount
Tier 3 Arrears rate >15% -- Higher discount
For illustrative purposes only, WGL Energy said that an example tiered POR discount rate structure could reflect a discount rate of 2% to 3% for Tier 1 ("Best performers"), a discount rate of 4% to 6% for Tier 2 ("Average performers"), and a discount rate of 7% to 10% for Tier 3 ("High-risk portfolios")
"The discount rate should reflect actual bad debt experience, actual collection costs, and actual supplier performance -- high-performing suppliers should not subsidize high-risk portfolios," WGL Energy said
WGL Energy also said that utilities should provide supplier-specific data for:
• Customer payment history
• Aging buckets (30/60/90/120+)
• Write-off activity
• Payment allocation method
• Supplier bad-debt performance
• Arrearage trends
• Recovery performance
Without supplier-specific performance data, WGL Energy said
• Suppliers cannot manage risk.
• Suppliers cannot identify deteriorating portfolios.
• Regulators cannot determine which suppliers create POR losses.
To implement tiered POR discount rates, WGL Energy envisioned a 12-month timeline for the provision of the supplier-specific arrearage data by the utilities and a work group process, with implementation in year 2
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October 1, 2026
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Copyright 2026 EnergyChoiceMatters.com
Reporting by Paul Ring • ring@energychoicematters.com
Data as reported by WGL Energy:
Supplier Customers Arrears Arrears
Accounts Rate
Constellation 863 26 3.0%
WGL Energy 5,525 189 3.4%
MPower 4,097 964 23.5%
CleanSky 316 109 34.5%
SunSea 2,308 871 37.7%
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• NEW -- Enrollment & Rate Management Director - Retail Supplier
• NEW -- Strategic Sales Channels Manager - Retail Supplier
• NEW -- Controller - Retail Provider
• NEW -- Manager, Product I - VXRetail (Retail Energy)
• Refreshed 5/27/26 -- Manager, ISO Coordination (electricity), Retail Supplier
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