News Stories
Sponsored by Earth Etch. Regulatory insight and compliance solutions for today’s energy markets.
PUC Establishes October 5th as Effective Date of New Retail Energy Rules
Includes “Enroll by Wallet” and New Supplier Financial Security Requirements
An Ohio Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued an order making the amendments to Ohio Adm. Code 4901:1-10-01, -24, and -29; Ohio Adm. Code 4901:1-13-01, -12, and -14; Ohio Adm. Code 4901:1-21-06; Ohio Adm. Code 4901:1-24-10 and -14; Ohio Adm. Code 4901:1-27-10 and -14; and Ohio Adm. Code 4901:1-29-06, adopted and be effective on October 5, 2026 for several recently adopted retail market rule changes, including a form of enroll by wallet.
As reported previously, the new rules provide that customers may enroll without providing the customer account information if the customer presents a valid form of government-issued identification or a sufficient alternative form of identification. The new rules allow retail suppliers to use a form of identification for enrollment and customer identification purposes, whereby the suppliers then obtain the customer’s account number from the utilities’ eligible customer lists. This new process is has often been referred to as “enroll by wallet” because the customer does not need to be in possession of their customer account information in order to enroll.
In the final rules, note that the utilities are authorized to set “reasonable standards” that require retail suppliers to maintain financial assurances sufficient to protect customers and utilities from default. The rules explicitly exclude brokers and aggregators from these financial assurance requirements.
The final rule, however, does not define minimums, or limits, for the financial assurance that the utilities may require from retail suppliers.
