§ 7-510.3. Community Choice Aggregation Pilot Program; Montgomery County
West's Annotated Code of MarylandPublic UtilitiesEffective: June 1, 2021
West's Annotated Code of Maryland
Public Utilities (Refs & Annos)
Division I. Public Services and Utilities [Titles 1-15] (Refs & Annos)
Title 7. Gas, Electric, and Water Companies (Refs & Annos)
Subtitle 5. Electric Industry Restructuring (Refs & Annos)
Part II. Electric Industry Restructuring Enabled (Refs & Annos)
Effective: June 1, 2021
MD Code, Public Utilities, § 7-510.3
§ 7-510.3. Community Choice Aggregation Pilot Program; Montgomery County
(a) In this section, “small commercial electric customer” means a commercial electric customer that has a peak electric load of not more than 25 kilowatts and includes master-metered multiple occupancy residences that have a peak electric load of not more than 25 kilowatts.
(d)(1) At least 60 days before initiating the process to form a community choice aggregator, a county shall:
(e)(1) At least 60 days after developing an aggregation plan and giving the notice required under subsection (d) of this section, a county may initiate the process of forming a community choice aggregator by filing with the Commission:
(f)(1) In accordance with a schedule established by the Commission under subsection (l) of this section, if a county enacts a local law to act as a community choice aggregator, the county shall provide or cause its selected electricity supplier, if any, to provide written notice of the formation of the community choice aggregator to all residential and small commercial electric customers in the county.
(g) A residential or small commercial electric customer is deemed to have given permission to the county to act on the customer's behalf as a community choice aggregator:
(h) Except for a contract that automatically renews, at the end of a contract term with an electricity supplier a residential or small commercial electric customer in the jurisdiction of a community choice aggregator shall be automatically enrolled as a participant in the aggregation activities of the community choice aggregator unless the customer:
(i) This section may not be construed to prevent a residential or small commercial electric customer in the county from choosing at any time:
(j)(1) A community choice aggregator may not assess any new fee, tax, or other charge in the aggregation charges or rates that is not related to the cost of:
(k)(1) Except for the purposes of meeting the requirements of the renewable energy portfolio standard under Subtitle 7 of this title, a community choice aggregator may not be considered to be an electricity supplier under § 7-507(a) of this subtitle.
(3)(i) A community choice aggregator may contract for service from an electric generating facility in accordance with this article if the amount of contracted electricity supply from the facility is not greater than the amount estimated to be necessary to meet the electrical demand of the participants of the community choice aggregator.
(4) Any contract relating to the provision of electric service by a community choice aggregator, including any contract for the supply of electricity or the procurement or financing of electric generation services shall allow for or anticipate the potential adoption of an alternative resource adequacy mechanism that could apply in the State.
(l)(1) Based on a determination of the mitigation of volumetric risk, the Commission may establish by order or regulation a schedule that may not exceed a period of 2 years, by which a community choice aggregator may transfer load from standard offer service to retail or wholesale contracts under an aggregation plan.
(m)(1) A county that is forming a community choice aggregator is deemed to have obtained electric customer authorization to retrieve preenrollment usage data for residential and small commercial electric customers in the county.
(n) The Commission shall review applicable fees, request formats, and the format of data provided to facilitate the intent of this section.
(o) The Commission shall establish procedures for an electric customer that is receiving electricity supply through a community choice aggregator to receive any bill assistance credit or arrearage assistance to which the customer may be entitled under § 7-512.1 of this subtitle or any other federal or State bill and arrearage assistance administered by the Office of Home Energy Programs.
(p) The Commission may allocate the portion of delinquent accounts receivable that is attributable to electricity supply between the electric customers participating in the aggregation activities of a community choice aggregator and the electric customers throughout the electric company's service territory if the Commission determines that:
(2) the projected increase in the amount of delinquent accounts receivable attributable to electric customers receiving standard offer service is directly or indirectly caused by the migration of a substantial number of electric customers from standard offer service to participation in the aggregation activities of a community choice aggregator.
(q) Bills sent to electric customers that participate in the aggregation activities of a community choice aggregator shall identify the community choice aggregator as the electricity supplier.
(r)(1) In this subsection, “Workgroup” means the Community Choice Energy Workgroup established in accordance with this subsection.
(s)(1) The Commission shall by regulation establish standards and procedures to protect the consumer rights of residential customers within the territory of a community choice aggregator that receive electricity supply through the community choice aggregator.
(t)(1) The pilot program shall:
(u)(1) At the conclusion of the pilot program described in this section, the Commission shall study:
(v) On or before December 31, 2023, the Commission shall adopt regulations to implement this section, including regulations for:
(11) the approval of a tariff structure for community choice aggregrator1 interactions with electric companies, including:
(w) The Montgomery County government shall:
Credits
Added by Acts 2021, c. 449, § 2, eff. June 1, 2021.
Footnotes
So in original.
MD Code, Public Utilities, § 7-510.3, MD PUBLIC UTIL § 7-510.3
Current through legislation effective through April 9, 2023, from the 2024 Regular Session of the General Assembly. Some statute sections may be more current, see credits for details.
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