The Commission is hosting an Electric and Gas Supplier Conference on September 29, 2016, at BG&E's offices in Baltimore. Topics of the conference will include: State of the Market; Licensing; Consumer Protections and Online Resources; Consumer Complaint Process; Competitive Supplier Utility Resources; Mass Market Issues- Concerns and Solutions from the Advocate Perspective; and Next Phase for Residential Markets. To view the full agenda and register for the meeting go to: http://2016_md_electric_and_gas_supplier_conference.eventbrite.com

The Department opened an investigation to develop interim guidelines for competitive supply formal investigations and procedures to establish a uniform process and procedure applicable when a supplier violates department regulations. The Department noted its "explicit authority" to issue licenses and civil penalties against competitive suppliers, but the lack of Department regulations pertaining to proceedings for suppliers' regulation violations or consumer issues.

The Department issued draft interim guidelines for comment. The draft guidelines set forth a proposed informal review process; formal proceeding process; conduct of adjudicatory hearings; issuance of remedial orders; issuance of consent orders and possible penalties.

Comments are due October 11, 2016, and reply comments are due October 25, 2016. The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.

The Commission adopted revised electric utility codes of conduct to address concerns arising from utility or affiliate ownership of Distributed Energy Resources (DER). Under REV, the Commission decided that utilities should perform the role of Distributed System Platform Provider (DSP), that utility affiliates could own and operate DER in the utilities service territories, and that utilities could own DER in limited circumstances, thus creating potential conflicts of interest. The Commission adopted revised utility code of conduct provisions to address these potential conflicts.

The electric utilities’ codes of conduct must now include provisions as follows: "language explicitly prohibiting preferential treatment to affiliates regarding, but not limited to, interconnections and dispatch; equal access of information to all market participants, including affiliates; when authorized to do so, third-party information shall be shared with all parties equally contemporaneously; the nature of and requirements for confidential information must clear to employees; what information may and may not be shared must be made clear; competitive bidding or standard offers for DER procurement must be used until the Commission determines otherwise; when competitive bidding is used for DER procurement, an independent monitor shall be used; dispute resolution procedures shall include written responses to complainants, meetings between the utility and complainants, and the right of complainants to request resolution by the Commission; dispute resolution procedures shall be posted on the utilities’ websites; cross-subsidization between utilities and unregulated affiliates shall be prohibited; goods shall be transferred to affiliates at the higher of book or market value and purchased from affiliates at the lower of cost or market value; and employees shall receive annual training in the requirements of the codes of conduct, which shall include rules on information sharing, and attest to the completion of such training."

The full text of the Order is available on the NEM Website.