Maryland Energy Marketers Coalition Asks for Temporary Delay to Test Maryland Supplier Price Portal

The Maryland Energy Marketers Coalition has asked the Maryland PSC to temporarily delay the requirement that retail electric suppliers begin using the PSC's new pricing web portal to allow testing of the system.

The web portal, to be launched October 28, was first reported by Matters (see 10/17).

While the Maryland Energy Marketers Coalition (MEMC) strongly supports, "the clear and transparent display of open electricity offers, in a searchable format," the Coalition expressed concern that the new supplier portal and associated offer page, which were developed independent of a working group's involvement, are being implemented without any kind of testing phase.

While MEMC recognized the statutory deadline faced by the PSC in putting the shopping portal online, MEMC said that customers could ultimately be harmed if potential errors are not resolved prior to launching the page.

"The MEMC therefore respectfully requests that a temporary hold be placed on the launch of the program and that the IT staff be directed to develop and implement a testing protocol for both the supplier portal and the offer page. Our intention is not to prevent the deployment of these applications; to the contrary, we strongly support this initiative, and are only seeking to ensure that consumers receive accurate information through the offer page."

Frank Caliva, of Strategic Communications, LLC, which advises the Maryland Energy Marketers Coalition, said that the sought delay would not be prolonged, perhaps a few a weeks, unless the results of testing indicated that more work was needed on the portal.