Customer Interests Undermined by Lack of Process at Public Service Commission, People’s Counsel Filing Says
BALTIMORE – The interests of utility residential customers are being harmed by the Maryland Public Service Commission’s lack of processes for addressing matters raised by the Office of People’s Counsel—the State’s statutorily created residential ratepayer representative, OPC told the Commission in a petition filed today. Procedural rules have become necessary because the Commission has ignored OPC’s requests, dismissed them without addressing the merits, or allowed matters to linger for extended periods, OPC’s filing said.
“The lack of procedures is undermining OPC’s efforts to advance the interests of residential customers, resulting in situations in which customers are harmed,” People’s Counsel David S. Lapp said.
OPC’s filing—a petition for a rulemaking—asks the Commission to adopt rules that ensure its requests for Commission action are addressed on their merits in a reasonable time. Commission procedures currently provide no assurance that the Commission will ever address OPC’s filings. State law gives OPC the important role of investigating and bringing requests to the Commission for action to protect the interests of residential customers, according to OPC’s petition. The Commission’s own responsibility to advance the public interest is undermined if OPC’s efforts are disregarded or allowed to linger indefinitely, the petition explains.
OPC’s filing illustrates the need for written procedures with several recent examples. One is OPC’s 2023 petition for gas utility planning. It is widely acknowledged that gas consumption will substantially decline in coming years, but the gas utilities are spending hundreds of millions of dollars annually on fossil fuel infrastructure, resulting in substantial rate increases and stranded costs. The Commission has taken no action on OPC’s filing—not even to open a docket to serve as a repository for governmental and advocacy organizations’ filings in support. In another example, the Commission dismissed an OPC complaint alleging deceptive advertising because it had “no interest” in it. OPC’s petition explains how the Commission’s procedural gaps—which have allowed OPC filings to remain unaddressed—are impacting utility customers.
Fixing the procedural issues will not only protect residential customer interests but will create efficiencies and enhance transparency, OPC’s petition explains. The lack of procedures confuses other interested parties and means that OPC’s limited resources can be wasted if the Commission never acts on OPC’s requests. Transparency would be enhanced with written procedures, according to the petition, because they would clarify when parties are prohibited from talking to commissioners about pending matters. As it stands, the regulated companies could be taking advantage of the procedural gaps to discuss OPC’s requests with commissioners privately, the petition points out.
“The Commission can open a docket for our requests with minimal effort,” Lapp said. “Then it should establish a reasonable schedule for addressing the merits of OPC’s requests.”
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents Maryland’s residential consumers of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, private water and certain transportation matters before the Public Service Commission, federal regulatory agencies and the courts.
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