Written By: Tracy McCormick, Executive Director, Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA)
During the June 4 meeting of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC), a striking admission from PSC Staff underscored a rapidly unfolding crisis: “There really is no residential supply market at this point.”
This was not a rhetorical flourish. It was a candid acknowledgment of a market in collapse.
In the wake of Senate Bill 1 (SB1) — a law that made sweeping, draconian changes to the retail energy market framework — Maryland has seen an exodus of competitive energy options for residential customers. PSC Staff noted receiving a surge of complaints from consumers who were dropped by their suppliers or found no competitive offers available online. The current regulatory environment has made it untenable for suppliers to continue offering savings and serving Maryland’s residential customers.
But the consequences reached far beyond individual price comparisons. When retail suppliers are forced to exit a market, the losses are not merely financial — they are structural and strategic.
Competition drives innovation
In a functioning restructured market, retail energy suppliers serve as incubators for new ideas, offering dynamic pricing models, renewable and environmentally-friendly energy products, demand-side solutions, and smart technologies tailored to customer preferences. These innovations not only provide better service but are essential to modernizing the grid and achieving long-term decarbonization goals.
Without a vibrant competitive sector, there is no pressure on the monopoly utilities to evolve. No incentive to improve service. No market mechanism to test emerging technologies. No competitive pressure to safeguard energy affordability. In short, when suppliers leave, innovation leaves with them, and just when energy markets require more cost stability and creative thinking, not less.
As policymakers across the country contend with rising energy costs, infrastructure stress from AI and data centers, and the urgent need to decarbonize, Maryland’s experience should be viewed as a case study in the hazards of reactive policymaking. Regulations crafted without economic balance or market insight risk silencing the very players best positioned to drive energy solutions forward.
The Retail Energy Supply Association (RESA) strongly believes that consumer protection and market health are not mutually exclusive. A regulatory framework that fosters both accountability and viability is not only possible, but also essential. Let Maryland be a signal, not a roadmap. If we stifle competition, we extinguish innovation, and in doing so, we inadvertently raise costs and reduce options for everyone.
Now more than ever, policymakers and industry leaders must work together
The challenges ahead — from grid modernization and decarbonization, to energy affordability and system reliability — demand thoughtful collaboration, not fragmentation. RESA remains committed to being a constructive partner in this dialogue, ensuring that markets continue to deliver value, innovation, and choice to consumers nationwide.
