This week, ACCES published its Fall 2021 newsletter recapping what changes we saw for competitive energy in the 2021 legislative session.
ACCES has continued to monitor policy developments to identify states and provinces strengthening or expanding competitive energy markets across the United State and Canada. 2021 legislative sessions included several bills which provide more access to competitive energy option. Most notably is the approval of “Seamless Move” in Maryland. House Bill HB473 / Senate Bill SB79 was signed in law by Gov. Hogan on May 18, 2021. In a significant win for consumers, the new law allows customers that move to a new service address within the same utility territory in which they already live, can maintain their previous community solar or residential electric choice contract without termination or interruption by the utility. Implementation has already begun at the Maryland Public Service Commission. Additionally, several states, including Maryland and Maine (Maryland House Bill HB842 and Maine House Bill LD1666) enacted requirements for third-party access to consumer data. Maine went a step further, requiring the Maine Public Service Commission to establish and operate a statewide, multi-use online energy data platform that will provide natural gas and electric utility customers with access to their usage data. Safe, secure customer data access i is vital for the creation of value-added products and services in the competitive marketplace.
The full issue is available here; sign up to receive our quarterly update here.