# COMAR Title 20 — Public Service Commission

## Subtitle 59 — Competitive Gas Supply

### Chapter 08 — Supplier-Consolidated Billing Customer Protections

#### Regulation .03 Deposits.

*COMAR 20.59.08.03*

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.