The Commission released the Agenda for the June 18, 2009, gas and electric Supplier Meet and Greet. As described by the Commission, the event is meant, "to discuss the current Maryland regulatory and operational environment for licensed and prospective electric and gas suppliers. The event will also allow for networking opportunities with Commission staff, Maryland state agencies, and other interested parties." The Agenda includes opening remarks from Chairman Nazarian; Commission Staff review of retail energy and gas markets, licensing and RPS, and competitive supply and consumer protections; utility discussion of utility-supplier coordination; and retail and wholesale supplier panels. Those interested in attending should RSVP to olinton@psc.state.md.us. The full text of the Meeting Agenda is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission has ordered the expansion of ConEd's ESCO referral program to include new service initiation customers on a pilot basis. The Commission recognized that expanding the program to new service customers, "is another step to further the growth of the competitive retail energy market in the state. By offering ESCO commodity supply to new customers at the time of service initiation, an additional segment of customers are made aware of energy choices while creating an environment for a direct relationship to evolve between the ESCO and the customer." ConEd was required to modify its ESCO assignment process so that single commodity service customers are given access to the dual-service ESCO list and dual commodity customers are given access to the electric-only and natural gas-only ESCO lists as well as the dual fuel list. The Commission decided that implementation and on-going O&M costs to expand the referral program should be deferred pending an assessment of the costs and establishment of a recovery mechanism. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

Commission Staff has made modifications to the DPS website in order to provide more visibility to Energy Competition. The website modifications have now gone live. To view the changes, go to the new link to Energy Competition Information on the PSC homepage at http://www.dps.state.ny.us/.

New York City Mayor Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Quinn announced this week an agreement on proposed new revenue enhancements to help balance the Fiscal Year 2010 Budget. Of particular note, it is proposed that the current sales tax exemption for consumers choosing competitive for energy commodity supply be ended. It is proposed that full New York City sales tax be applied to migrated energy customers. It is estimated that the tax would generate $83 million in new revenue in FY 2010. The proposal needs to be approved by the State legislature and signed into law by the Governor.

A1558B would require the PSC, CPB and the department of law to develop a plain language "ESCO consumers bill of rights" that would be required to be provided to prospective customers. This week, the bill passed the Assembly and was referred to the Senate Consumer Protection Committee.

The bill would prohibit ESCOs from contracting for any customer prepayment of energy services. Contracts would be prohibited from including a termination fee in excess of one hundred dollars or twice the estimated bill for energy services for an average month. To charge a termination fee greater than one hundred dollars, the ESCO would have to provide the customer, at the time of contract, with an estimate of the average monthly bill they would be charged. The bill would provide a right of action to the Attorney General and customers for violations of the requirements. The full text of A1558B is available on the NEM Website.

HB1822 is on its way to be signed by the Governor, after passage of both houses. The bill would add additional REP disclosure requirements, above those recently adopted in the Commission rulemaking on the subject. Specifically, the bill requires the development of common billing terms to be used in retail electric bills to consumers. HB1822 also sets forth requirements for the sale of fixed rate products. Residential customers purchasing fixed rate products must receive at least one written notice of the expiration date of the product. Additionally, each billing statement must include the end date of a fixed rate product. The full text of HB1822 is available on the NEM Website.