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On September 15, 2026 BGE, PE, PEPCO and DPL, and SMECO filed status updates on “implementation of the demand management participation and enrollment initiatives approved” for summer 2026.

Parties also filed comments on investor-owned utility (IOU) interim capital deferment and TOU reports.

MEA recommends that the Maryland PSC: (i) “consolidate the deferral reports into the existing” electric system planning dockets; (ii) “require each utility to provide a framework or roadmap to overcome the various challenges identified in their filings”; and (iii) “advance [TOU] rates at the appropriate time and in a manner that preserves meaningful price signals while protecting customers.”

OPC: (i) objected that the reports “do not consistently evaluate time-varying rates using the Commission’s common metrics”; (ii) objected that the reports “do not provide a comparable basis for evaluating the costs and benefits of an opt-out TOU transition”; and (iii) said that the IOUs “have not yet shown how demand-side resources will be evaluated against specific distribution constraints as nonwires solutions (NWS)”.

Staff: (i) found that, while the “reports provide a useful foundation for evaluating the potential role of demand-side resources, DERs, and TOU rates in future distribution system planning,” they also demonstrate that IOUs “are at different stages in developing the… capabilities necessary to rely upon such resources as alternatives to traditional distribution infrastructure”; (ii) said that it the current record indicates that “the ability of a resource, or portfolio of resources, to provide distribution deferral value depends upon the characteristics of the particular system need, and whether the resource can provide sufficient, dependable load relief at the required location, magnitude, time, and duration”; and (iii) said that “the feasibility of broad opt-out TOU implementation differs materially among” IOUs, recommending MDPSC “evaluate both distribution-deferral potential and opt-out TOU implementation with the appropriate recognition of utility-specific circumstances, while continuing to develop a transparent and repeatable analytical framework that can inform future” decisions.