State Requires Utility to Not Send Enrollment Notices in Contract Assignment Situation, Directs Further Study of Issue

The Maryland PSC granted a request from NRG Residential Solutions and directed Baltimore Gas & Electric to suppress "enrollment" notices that would otherwise be triggered and sent to customers of Dominion Retail which are being transferred to NRG after NRG purchased the Dominion Retail electric book.

NRG had raised concern that because the letter discusses the customer making a new selection of a retail provider, which is not the case in the case of the assignment of an existing contract, the letter could confuse customers and incorrectly lead to the customer thinking they have been slammed.

The PSC agreed and directed Baltimore Gas & Electric to suppress the enrollment letters in this instance. NRG had offered to pay any expenses associated with this suppression process.

The PSC also directed that a working group or similar process study this issue generically, since the current regulations do not squarely address customer notice issues in the case of contract assignments.