On Wednesday night the Maryland Senate passed SB844. The bill would eliminate electric choice for residential and small consumers. Although large commerical and industrial consumers would retain the ability to choose a competitive supplier, they would be assessed a surcharge for new power plants built in Maryland. The restriction in choice is purportedly needed to ensure that new power plants in Maryland can recoup their investments. The companion bill in the House is HB1530. The Baltimore Sun is reporting that, "While the measure has cleared the Senate, its prospects for passage in the House of Delegates appear shaky. Delegates, including the chairman of the committee considering a similar bill, have said it's too late in the session to take up the complicated legislation with less than two weeks left."

Over the weekend, Governor Paterson and the legislature agreed to finalized budget language. As of this writing, the budget has passed the Assembly. Because of a narrow 32-30 majority in the Senate, consideration of the budget is being delayed pending the return of a senator that has been ill. Of particular importance with respect to the 18-a utility assessment, the revised budget language appears to rely on the current utility collection mechanism for assessing revenues. Utilities would include an estimate of revenues derived by "third parties" for the sale of commodity for calculation of the assessment. The full text of the Revised Budget Language (see part NN) is available on the NEM Website.

In April 2008 the Governor issued an Executive Order requiring that a State Energy Planning Board be convened with the task of developing a State Energy Plan. Board Staff has released an interim report of preliminary findings to provide a sense of direction for the Plan and facilitate comment on substantive issues. Amongst the preliminary findings are the needs to:
1) encourage investment in energy efficiency and renewable energy;
2) adopt additional carbon reduction strategies;
3) build new infrastructure to support the increase in natural gas demand;
4) reduce reliance on petroleum-based fuels, beginning with the increased use of electric vehicles;
5) expand and modernize the electric grid; and
6) make further reductions in emissions across all sectors of the economy.

Comments on the Interim Report are due May 15, 2009. A Draft State Energy Plan will be issued July 15, 2009. The Final Plan is expected to be issued on October 15, 2009. The full text of the Interim Report is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission established a deadline of March 31, 2009, for the gas utilities to file voluntary POR programs, or alternatively, file a cost of service study in their next 1307(f) or base rate proceeding. Columbia Gas, NFG, and T.W. Phillips have filed POR program proposals. PECO has elected to file a cost of service study.

Columbia's proposal would utilize a 1.86% discount rate plus an administrative adder of 0.39%. The program would be mandatory for marketers using consolidated billing. Columbia would have the right to terminate for customer non-payment.

NFG's proposal is to implement a program modeled on its NY POR program. The discount rate for residential customers would be 2.7086% and for non-residential customers would be 0.4766%. Consolidated billing service and POR would be a requirement for marketers serving SATC customers with annual consumption of less than 1,000 Mcf/year. NFG also proposes the ability to terminate for customer non-payment.

T.W. Phillips proposal would offer a POR program for residential and small commercial customers with a discount rate of 2.81%. The program would only be available to marketers using consolidated billing and would be required for marketers that use consolidated billing. T.W. Phillips would have the right to terminate for non-payment of marketer commodity charges.

The full texts of the Utility POR Filings are available on the NEM Website.