An acting chair of the Public Service Commission moved and the commission voted unanimously to publish draft revisions to several Maryland Code of Regulations provisions stemming from rulemaking RM 84, while removing an automatic-approval mechanism from the current text and postponing other eligibility questions to a pending order.

The motion, made on the record during the commission’s RM 84 proceeding, covered revisions to COMAR citations the acting chair listed for publication in the Maryland Register for notice and comment, subject to nonsubstantive COMAR drafting edits. The commission then recorded unanimous affirmative votes.

Why it matters: the package revises how suppliers document and retire renewable energy certificates and clarifies reporting requirements tied to SB 1 and related COMAR sections. Parties had been split over whether the draft should include an automatic trigger that would cause certain applications to be deemed approved and whether language should explicitly limit some provisions to “residential” offerings.

What the commission decided: the acting chair said the commission would remove the proposed automatic-approval language “for the moment” and address it later, asking staff to delete the relevant subsections. Counsel for the supplier coalition, Eric Wallace of the law firm Green Herlocker, told the commission the coalition supported language that would streamline project approvals, saying, “We think it it helps to kinda streamline getting these, these projects through the process.” Ryan Chu, speaking on behalf of the Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC), said OPC had been willing to accept an automatic-approval trigger only if the compliance metric were set to 100 percent of the trailing 12‑month average.

The group also agreed to strike a newly drafted A2 from the current regulatory text and to keep subsection E (which staff said ties reporting elements to PUA 7707(d)(3)). Staff and the acting chair stated that the question of what qualifies as eligible — for example, whether certain national tracking certificates outside PJM would be permissible — will be addressed in a pending order rather than in the immediate publication.

Details and next steps: the motion directed staff to publish revised regulations including, as read into the record, modifications to COMAR sections cited for notice and comment (including but not limited to COMAR 20.50.53.07.07, 20.61.04.01, and additions to COMAR 20.53.07.15 and 20.61.01.07). The commission recorded aye votes from Commissioner Barve, Commissioner Richard, the chair (Harrison), and the acting chair, after which the acting chair declared the proceeding adjourned. Staff and parties indicated they will resolve remaining eligibility and technical definition issues — particularly how non‑PJM environmental attributes or national RECs may be treated for green product marketing — in a forthcoming order.

Quotes from the record include the acting chair’s direction to remove the provision now and revisit it later; Eric Wallace’s statement that the supplier coalition supported streamlining; and Ryan Chu’s explanation that OPC was comfortable only if a 100 percent threshold were used. The commission’s action moves the revised regulatory text into the Maryland Register for public notice and comment, with the technical eligibility and definitional questions to be resolved administratively in the pending order.