News Stories

The Maryland Public Service Commission issued a notice that it is initiating a new public conference PC77  to examine Demand Side Management Programs, Rate Design Measures, and Distributed Energy Resource Integration in coordination with the DRIVE Act.

The notice states that the Commission is “mindful that there are a number of proceedings in place that are intended to address system reliability and affordability, but the Commission is also concerned that the siloing of such proceedings could result in duplicative or less-than-effective programs. Pairing TOU rates with certain distributed energy resource (“DER”) programs could result in more cost-effective solutions. In fact, there could be situations where TOU rates would only be cost-effective if combined with other programs, but we would miss such an opportunity if those programs are considered separately.”

The purpose of PC77 is to catalog the current state of demand-side management programs and rate design measures intended to influence customer load behavior, such as time-of-use rates.

“In addition, the Commission directs the utilities to provide proposals to increase participation in these programs and rates, by August 2026. Finally, the Commission directs the utilities to offer new programs that would promote DERs and demand response.”

As background, the DRIVE Act is intended to promote the deployment of demand-side measures to improve grid function and to lower customer bills.

Included within that Act the investor-owned utilities are required to file with the Commission temporary tariffs to implement time-of-use (“TOU”) rates as a way to avoid or defer electric distribution system capital projects.

Previously on February 26, 2026, the Commission issued a notice postponing the March 4 and 5, 2026 DRIVE Act hearing (in Case No. 9761.

The Commission notes that it has determined that additional time is needed to gather more information in alignment with the following direction.