1. A. A supplier providing supplier-consolidated billing shall purchase the regulated receivables of the utility.

2. B. Partial Payment Priority.

   1. (1) The supplier shall apply a customer’s partial payment of a supplier-consolidated bill in the following order:

      1. (a) Utility arrearages and supplier commodity arrearages in proportion to the relative proportion of their sum;
      2. (b) Current utility charges and current supplier commodity charges in proportion to the relative proportion of their sum; and
      3. (c) Noncommodity Charges.
   2. (2) If a supplier’s commodity charge is bundled with noncommodity charges, and the supplier is unable to separate the commodity and noncommodity prices, the supplier shall consider the bundled charge as a noncommodity product for the purpose of payment posting.

3. C. Partial Payment Priority if a Supplier Provides Both Gas and Electricity on the Same Bill.

   1. (1) The supplier shall divide customer payments into two equal amounts and apply one half to gas receivables and the other half to electricity receivables.
   2. (2) The supplier shall apply the payments in §C(1) of this regulation following the payment posting system in §B of this regulation.
   3. (3) In the event a customer payment satisfies the entirety of a gas or electric arrearage, any remainder of the customer’s payment will be allocated to the other arrearage before applying revenue to current charges in §B of this regulation.
   4. (4) A noncommodity charge in §B of this regulation shall be paid after all gas and electricity utility and supplier commodity receivables have been paid.

4. D. If a customer disputes a charge:

   1. (1) The supplier shall credit the customer’s payment to the undisputed portion of the account; and
   2. (2) A utility may not count the number of days a charge is disputed with CAD or the Commission toward the limit on the number of days a supplier has to sell customer arrearages to the utility under Regulation .10D(2) of this chapter.

5. E. A charge is considered disputed under §D of this regulation if:

   1. (1) A customer has filed a dispute with the Commission;
   2. (2) The utility has communicated to the supplier that the utility considers the charge under dispute; or
   3. (3) The supplier has communicated to the utility that the supplier considers the charge under dispute.

Authority: Public Utilities Article, §§2-113, 2-121, 5-101, 7-507, 7-511, and 7-601—7-606, Annotated Code of Maryland

Effective date:

Regulations.01—.04 adopted as an emergency provision effective July 16, 2009 (36:17 Md. R. 1311); adopted permanently effective October 5, 2009 (36:20 Md. R. 1532)

Regulation .02E adopted effective March 7, 2022 (49:5 Md. R. 367)

Regulation .03C amended effective March 14, 2016 (43:5 Md. R. 387)

Regulations .05—.11 adopted effective March 7, 2022 (49:5 Md. R. 367)