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PSC staff recommends accepting results of Maryland SOS bid; staff cites competition and no anomaly rejections
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Summary
Staff for the Public Service Commission of Maryland told commissioners it recommends accepting the results of the most recent standard offer service (SOS) bid day in commission cases 9056 and 9064, saying the procurement was competitive, rules were followed and no winning bids were rejected under the commission's price anomaly threshold.
Staff for the Public Service Commission of Maryland recommended the commission accept the results of the most recent standard offer service (SOS) bid day in commission case numbers 9056 and 9064, staff witnesses told commissioners at a hearing. Frank Mossberg, a consultant with Bates White LLC testifying for commission staff, and Drew McAuliffe, director of the technical staff electricity division, summarized the bidding process and estimated residential bill impacts.
Mossberg told the commission the staff recommends acceptance of the bid results because the process was “open, fair, and transparent,” all bidders competed for the same products under the same contracts and staff independently verified the winners and prices. He said the procurement was competitive: 12 bidders participated, providing about 4.2 megawatts of offers for every megawatt needed, and nine bidders won awards. “We would recommend that you accept the results of this past Monday's bid day,” Mossberg said.
Drew McAuliffe summarized the staff report on bill impacts, noting the estimates compare average bills in the June 2024–May 2025 period to June 2025–May 2026 for most utilities. McAuliffe said Potomac Edison’s average total residential bill is estimated to increase 1.1%, or about $21 per year, with the SOS portion up 1.6%. He said Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) customers face an average total increase of 4% (about $93 per year) and an 8.9% rise in the SOS portion. Delmarva Power and Light’s average total residential bills are estimated to increase 2% (about $48 per year) with a 1% SOS increase. For Baltimore Gas and Electric, McAuliffe said average total residential bills are estimated to increase 13.3% (about $255 per year) and the SOS portion 19.1%.
McAuliffe also reviewed estimated summer (type 2) bill impacts, saying summer 2025 average total bills are up substantially compared with summer 2024 across utilities: Potomac Edison summer bills increase about 18.2–20.7% with SOS rates up 57% from spring to summer; BGE summer bills increase about 26.3–27% with SOS rates up 58–61%; Delmarva shows summer increases of about 16.3–20.9% and SOS up 20–26%; and Pepco summer bills increase about 24% with SOS up 49% from spring to summer.
Staff also explained a clarification about capacity prices: some utilities used updated capacity prices from last year's capacity auction while others used proxy values depending on their timing. McAuliffe said, for example, “PHI, half of their residential bid includes the new capacity price from last year and half was proxy,” and he noted other utilities varied in their treatment of capacity price updates.
Commission staff told commissioners no winning bids were rejected under the commission’s price anomaly threshold (PAT). At the close of the hearing Chair Hoover said the commission would issue an order accepting the SOS auction results “in due order.” The hearing record did not include a roll-call vote during the session; staff indicated an order accepting the results would be issued after the hearing.
