Regulation .03 Deposits.
Regulation .03 Deposits.LinkCopy Citation
A.
A supplier may charge a customer a deposit for supplier-consolidated billing subject to the following:
(1)
A supplier may request a maximum of 4 months of supply charges for a deposit related to commodity service;
(2)
A supplier is not required to apply its deposit from §A(1) of this regulation or the interest accrued thereon to any utility charges held by the supplier;
(3)
Any interest earned on deposits held by a supplier shall be returned to the customer if the deposit is not used for collection purposes;
(4)
Unclaimed deposits, with accrued interest, shall be credited to an appropriate account, or shall otherwise be disposed of in accordance with State law;
(5)
A supplier shall return a customer’s excess deposit to the customer once the customer has no financial obligation to the supplier; and
(6)
A supplier shall retain records of deposits for a minimum of 3 years.
B.
If a utility holds a customer’s deposit at the time of enrollment in supplier-consolidated billing, the utility shall:
(1)
Refund within 60 days the commodity portion of the deposit to the customer after applying the deposit to any outstanding utility charges;
(2)
Continue to follow all existing deposit requirements under COMAR 20.30.01 and COMAR 20.30.02 for any portion of the deposit retained; and
(3)
Count payments made by a customer in full and on time to the supplier toward the customer’s good payment record under COMAR 20.30.01.05B and C and COMAR 20.30.02.05B and C.
C.
Deposits for Customers Returning to Utility Billing from Supplier-Consolidated Billing.
(1)
A utility may request a deposit for supply charges from a customer when a customer switches or is dropped from supplier-consolidated billing in accordance with existing deposit requirements under COMAR 20.30.01 and COMAR 20.30.02.
(2)
A utility shall consider a customer’s payment record when determining whether to assess a customer’s deposit under COMAR 20.30.01 and COMAR 20.30.02.