Massive new energy bill in Massachusetts introduced by Gov. Healey. On May 13, at the request of Gov. Healey, H4144 was introduced in the Massachusetts House. Notably, unlike recent attempts by the governor, this legislation would not completely shut down the retail market but would make significant changes to how it operates. Key proposals include: (1) revise licensing for brokers, marketers, and suppliers to require an annual fee of $10,000 and require a $5 million bond conditioned on performance of duties as a retail supplier for at least one year; (2) deem energy marketers to be legal agents of suppliers and require suppliers to directly provide appropriate training to marketers; (3) increase the maximum civil penalty the DPU may impose on retail suppliers to $100,000 per violation, capped at $10 million; (4) extend the period in which a customer may initiate an unauthorized switching complaint from 30 days to two years; (5) requires that the electricity rate for low and qualifying moderate income residential customers not exceed their utility’s average default service rate over the prior 12 months; (6) prohibits automatic renewal without the customer’s written consent, variable rates other than a seasonal variable rate and time of use rate, incentive-based compensation for enrolling customers, cancellation or early termination fees; and voluntary renewable or green energy products with non-CES-eligible energy attributes; (7) requires that that all customer enrollments be processed via the EnergySwitchMA website established by DPU; (8) require suppliers to report quarterly to DPU a list of each rate charged to residential customers and the number of low-income and non-low-income residential customers charged each rate listed by rate class; (9) require suppliers to report at least annually to DPU, and for the DPU to publish on its website, specific information about suppliers’ retirement of voluntary renewable energy attributes; (10) require prior DPU approval for assignment or transfer of customers; and (11) require DPU to publish the complaint data for each supplier and distribution company. More changes are included in the bill which impact renewable energy, electricity, and natural gas markets.
New legislation signed into law in Maryland. Three bills with indirect influence on the retail market were signed into law by Gov. Moore in Maryland on May 9 and 13. HB1256/SB959 requires utilities to submit one or more time-of-use tariffs for eligible customer classes on an opt-in basis by January 1, 2028. The new law requires the MDPSC (1) to implement regulations that allow for an expedited process to connect bidirectional electric vehicle systems to the grid, and (2) to develop a program that allows utilities to establish a pilot or temporary tariff that compensates owners and aggregators of distributed energy resources. SB37/HB121 requires investor-owned electric utilities to submit an annual report to the MDPSC regarding each recorded vote cast by the company and any of its affiliates at PJM. SB120/HB4 prohibits restrictions on land use that would either increase the cost of installing a solar collector system by at least 5% or reduce the efficiency of the system by at least 10%. It would also authorize a community association to put restrictions on solar collector systems installed in common areas.
Major energy market reform legislation on Ohio governor’s desk. House Bill HB15, major energy market reform legislation which has generally been supported by the retail supplier community, has passed both chambers of the Ohio legislature and was sent to Gov. DeWine on May 7. Notably, the bill requires a retail supplier that offers certain customers a contract for a fixed introductory rate that converts to a variable rate to send two notices containing certain information regarding the conversion to affected customers; and allows enroll-by-wallet for retail customers.
Potential Western market moving forward (slowly). The West-Wide Governance Pathways Initiative is seeking to create a new, independent regional organization with a territory including Arizona, California, New Mexico, Oregon, and Washington. The RTO would, among other things, assume the extended day ahead market and energy imbalance market currently run by the California Independent System Operator. While CAISO currently takes a joint governance approach to these markets, proponents argue that a unified western market would allow for expansion of EDAM and EIM benefits while avoiding duplication of the investments and expenses of the market infrastructure that has already been created. Pathways submitted a formation board proposal on March 28 to the participating entities as part of the process. The formation board would serve an interim role for the purposes of IRS corporation formation but a permanent board would still need to be established to deal with initial market policymaking issues.
In Brief: The Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC) for the District of Columbia sent an alert to customers of electric utility Pepco warning of “an expected increase of approximately $20 for the average monthly electric bill beginning in June 2025.” The OPC alert explains that the increase is driven in large part by wholesale electricity prices established last summer in the PJM capacity auction… DEEP in Connecticut announced on May 14 that it has launched a new online tool to assist with the siting and permitting process for large-scale renewable energy projects… ERCOT in Texas has published a new reference document.
Commission Comings-and-Goings: The Ontario Energy Board announced on May 12, two new members have been appointed to the OEB Board of Directors: David Butters and Frederic A. Wak…the Alberta Utilities Commission announced on May 7 that Carolyn Dahl Rees’ term as AUC chair has been extended for a five-year term and Maureen Higgins and Lora Mattie have been appointed as acting AUC members.
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