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COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA
THE JOHN A. WILSON BUILDING
1350 PENNSYLVANIA AVENUE, N.W.
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20004
Statement Upon Introduction of the
Retail Energy Market Consumer Protection
Amendment Act of 2026
Today we are introducing the Retail Energy Market Consumer Protection Amendment Act of
2026. This legislation is substantively identical to Subtitle E of Title VI of Bill 26 -661, the Budget
Support Act (BSA), introduced by Mayor Muriel Bowser on April 14, 2026.
Separating this measure from the Budget Support Act enables the Council to hold a public
hearing singularly focused on the proposal to protect consumers from unfair trade practices in the retail
electric supply market.
The subtitle (and therefore this bill) proposes a price cap on alternative electric suppliers
relative to the Standard Offer Service which is the default electric supply available to all customers.
While price controls may protect consumers, there can be o ffsetting effects on a competitive market.
On the other hand, there are a variety of requirements on suppliers that can protect consumers from an
otherwise unregulated market. Some of those requirements are included in this bill. There may be
more, and a look at the best practices utilized in other states could benefit this bill.
Introducing this BSA subtitle as standalone legislation will enable the Council, through its
Transportation and the Environment Committee, to thoughtfully examine unfair trade practices, ways
to counteract them, and evidence -based solutions. The goal is p rotecting consumers in a robust and
competitive energy market.
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________________________________ ______________________________ 1
Councilmember Charles Allen Chairman Phil Mendelson 2
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A BILL 4
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IN THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 8
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To amend the Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 1999 to revise 12
relevant definitions and establish requirements for third party electricity suppliers, and to 13
amend the Retail Natural Gas Supplier Licensing and Consumer Protection Act of 2004 14
to add additional protections for residential customers, including allowing customers to 15
terminate service at any time. 16
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BE IT ENACTED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE DISTRICT OF COUMBIA, that this act 18
may be cited as the “Retail Energy Market Consumer Protection Amendment Act of 2026”. 19
Sec. 2. The Retail Electric Competition and Consumer Protection Act of 1999, effective 20
May 9, 2000 (D.C. Law 13-107; D.C. Official Code § 34-1501 et seq.), is amended as follows: 21
(a) Section 101 (D.C. Official Code § 34-1501) is amended as follows: 22
(1) Paragraph (15A) is amended to read as follows: 23
“(15A) “Department” means the Department of Energy and Environment.”. 24
(2) Paragraph (15B) is amended to read as follows: 25
“(15B) “Director” means the Director of the Department or the Director’s 26
designee.”. 27
(b) Section 104(c)(1)(D) (D.C. Official Code § 34-1504(c)(1)(D)) is amended by striking 28
the phrase “in section 107;” and inserting the phrase “in sections 107 and 107a;” in its place. 29
(c) Section 107 (D.C. Official Code § 34-1507) is amended as follows: 30
(1) Subsection (a)(2) is amended to read as follows: 31
“(2) This restriction shall not apply to lawful disclosures: 32
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“(A) For bill collection or credit rating reporting purposes; 33
“(B) To a building owner about the energy consumption of a non-34
residential tenant of the building; or 35
“(C) To comply with the reporting requirements of this act.”. 36
(2) Subsection (b)(2) is amended to read as follows: 37
“(2) This restriction shall not apply to lawful disclosures for bill collection, credit 38
rating reporting purposes, or information disclosed in compliance with the reporting 39
requirements of this act.”. 40
(d) A new section 107a is added to read as follows: 41
“Sec. 107a. Market participants: rates, termination of contracts, and other consumer 42
protections. 43
“(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the supply and sale of electricity by a 44
market participant to residential customers shall be regulated by the Commission as follows: 45
“(1) A market participant shall only offer electricity supply to residential 46
customers at a price that does not exceed the applicable price cap established by the Commission 47
pursuant to subsection (b) of this section. 48
“(2) Residential customers may terminate their supply contracts at any time and 49
market participants shall not charge residential customers fees or penalties for early termination 50
of service. 51
“(3) A market participant shall be responsible for ensuring that its agents, 52
contractors, marketers, or brokers comply with all legal requirements that apply to the supply and 53
sale of electricity in the District, including the consumer protections in this section, section 107, 54
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and associated regulations. A market participant shall be liable for any violation of these legal 55
requirements committed by its agents, contractors, marketers, or brokers. 56
“(b)(1) The Commission shall establish one or more price caps for electricity supplied by 57
a market participant to residential customers. Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of this 58
subsection, the price cap shall not exceed 110% of the price of the standard offer service. 59
“(2) The Commission may establish a price cap that exceeds 110% of the price of 60
the standard offer service; provided, that: 61
“(A) The electricity supply is sourced from a tier one renewable source or 62
tier two renewable source, as those terms are defined in section 3 of the Renewable Energy 63
Portfolio Standard Act of 2004, effective April 12, 2005 (D.C. Law 15-340; D.C. Official Code § 64
34-1431); and 65
“(B) A market participant demonstrates procurement of renewable energy 66
or renewable energy credits, as described in section 5 of the Renewable Energy Portfolio 67
Standard Act of 2004, effective April 12, 2005 (D.C. Law 15-340; D.C. Official Code § 34–68
1433), in excess of the amount required by the renewable energy portfolio standard established 69
pursuant to section 4 of the Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard Act of 2004, effective April 70
12, 2005 (D.C. Law 15-340; D.C. Official Code § 34–1432). 71
“(3)(A) The Commission may establish exemptions from a price cap, or establish 72
a higher price cap, for specific market participants or types of electricity supply contracts; 73
provided, that the Commission determines that doing so is in the public interest. In making this 74
determination, the Commission may consider the following factors, along with any other factor 75
the Commission deems relevant: 76
“(i) Whether a proposed service is new or innovative; 77
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“(ii) The potential for the service to result in long-term savings for 78
residential customers; 79
“(iii) Any other energy-related benefits the service may provide, 80
such as improvements in energy efficiency or the ability of residential customers to manage their 81
energy costs; and 82
“(iv) The potential costs or financial risks to customers. 83
“(B) The Commission may modify or revoke an exemption or higher price 84
cap established pursuant to this paragraph if the Commission determines that the exemption or 85
higher price cap is no longer in the public interest or is otherwise no longer warranted. 86
“(c) A contract that contains a price for electricity supply that exceeds an applicable price 87
cap established pursuant to this section, including a contract entered into before the Commission 88
established the price cap, shall: 89
“(1) Be deemed null and void as against public policy; 90
“(2) Not be considered null and void under this subsection if amended to be in 91
compliance with the price cap within 60 days of the establishment of the price cap; provided, that 92
the contract was either entered into before the Commission established the price cap, or entered 93
into at a price for electricity supply that was in compliance with the price cap initially and then 94
exceeded the applicable price cap after the price of the standard offer service changed. 95
“(d)(1) The Commission shall require each market participant to share the standard 96
contract terms for each contract to be offered to a residential customer on a Commission-97
approved comparison website before the contract is offered to the residential customer. 98
“(2) The Commission shall determine which standard contract terms offered by a 99
market participant shall be posted to the Commission-approved website. 100
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“(3) The Commission may designate its own website as the Commission-101
approved website, or another website that assists residential customers in comparing electricity 102
supply contracts from different market participants. 103
“(4) Market participants shall notify the Commission when standard contract 104
terms for a new contract are posted to the Commission-approved website, when the standard 105
contract terms for a contract posted to the Commission-approved website are modified, and when 106
a contract is removed from the Commission-approved website. The Commission may establish 107
rules regarding the form, content, and frequency at which such notifications must be provided to 108
the Commission. 109
“(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission shall establish 110
additional reporting requirements for market participants supplying electricity to residential 111
customers as follows: 112
“(1) The Commission shall require market participants to report the following 113
information: 114
“(A) Name of the market participant; 115
“(B) Number of distinct rates offered by each market participant and the 116
price offered for each rate; 117
“(C) Number of customers subscribed to each rate; 118
“(D) Sales volume in kilowatt hours (kWh) for each rate; 119
“(E) Number of customers in arrears and average arrears per customer, 120
reported by rate; 121
“(F) Number of customers who switched to and from the market 122
participant during the reporting period for each rate; and 123
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“(G) Number of customers with different contract lengths for each rate. 124
“(2)(A) The Commission shall determine which information provided by a market 125
participant pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be deemed confidential for the 126
purposes of protecting proprietary business information. 127
“(B) The Commission may direct market participants to submit both 128
confidential and public versions of any required report, with confidential information redacted 129
from the public version. 130
“(C) The Commission shall make available to the public copies of market 131
participant reports, with all confidential information redacted. 132
“(D) The Commission shall share, upon request, copies of confidential 133
versions of market participant reports with the Office of the People’s Counsel, the Office of the 134
Attorney General, and the Department. 135
“(3) Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the use of confidential information 136
to prepare statistics or other general data for publication when the statistics or other general data 137
are published in a manner that prevents identification of particular persons or individual 138
customer account information. 139
“(4) Nothing in this subsection shall limit the authority of the Commission to 140
establish additional reporting requirements, including the frequency for reporting of the 141
information in paragraph (1) of this subsection, or to continue existing reporting requirements. 142
“(f) The requirements in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section shall not apply to 143
electricity supplied by or through: 144
“(1) The standard offer service; 145
“(2) A municipal aggregation program under section 115; 146
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“(3) A single-customer or multi-customer microgrid; or 147
“(4) The District government, the federal government, or the agencies and 148
instrumentalities of the District government or federal government. 149
“(g) The Commission shall issue rules or orders to implement this section within 270 150
days after the applicability date of this act.”. 151
Sec. 3. The Retail Natural Gas Supplier Licensing and Consumer Protection Act of 2004, 152
effective March 16, 2005 (D.C. Law 15-227; D.C. Official Code § 34-1671.01 et seq.), is 153
amended as follows: 154
(a) Section 4(a) (D.C. Official Code § 34-1671.03(a)) is amended as follows: 155
(1) Paragraph (2) is amended by striking the phrase “protections;” and inserting 156
the phrase “protections, including the provisions in sections 9 and 9a;” in its place. 157
(2) Paragraph (7) is amended to read as follows: 158
“(7) Establish uniform contract terms for the enrollment agreement for residential 159
customers;”. 160
(b) Section 9 (D.C. Official Code § 34-1671.08) is amended as follows: 161
(1) Subsection (b)(1) is amended as follows: 162
(A) Subparagraph (A) is amended by striking the phrase “; and” and 163
inserting a semicolon in its place. 164
(B) Subparagraph (B) is amended by striking the phrase “a contract 165
without penalty.” and inserting the phrase “a contract; and” in its place. 166
(C) A new subparagraph (C) is added to read as follows: 167
“(C) Permit residential customers to terminate service at any time without 168
incurring a fee or penalty for early termination of service.”. 169
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(2) Subsection (c) is amended by striking the period and inserting the phrase “; 170
provided, that a licensed retail natural gas supplier shall not charge a fee or penalty for early 171
termination of service.” in its place. 172
(3) Subsection (e) is amended as follows: 173
(A) Paragraph (4) is amended by striking the phrase “without penalty;” 174
and inserting a semicolon in its place. 175
(B) Paragraph (5) is amended by striking the phrase “and any penalty for” 176
and inserting the word “for” in its place. 177
(c) A new section 9a is added to read as follows: 178
“Sec. 9a. Enhanced consumer protections in the residential retail market for natural gas. 179
“(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the supply and sale of natural gas by a 180
natural gas supplier to residential customers shall be regulated by the Commission as follows: 181
“(1) A natural gas supplier shall only offer natural gas to residential customers at 182
a price that does not exceed the applicable price cap established by the Commission pursuant to 183
subsection (b) of this section. 184
“(2) Residential customers may terminate their natural gas supply contracts at any 185
time and natural gas suppliers shall not charge residential customers fees or penalties for early 186
termination of service. 187
“(3) A natural gas supplier shall be responsible for ensuring that its agents; 188
contractors; marketers; or brokers comply with all legal requirements that apply to the supply 189
and sale of natural gas in the District, including the consumer protections in this section and 190
section 9, and associated regulations. A natural gas supplier shall be liable for any violation of 191
these legal requirements committed by its agents; contractors; marketers; or brokers. 192
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“(b)(1) The Commission shall establish one or more price caps for natural gas supplied 193
by a natural gas supplier to residential customers. Except as provided in paragraph (2) of this 194
subsection, the price cap shall not exceed 110% of the price of the gas company’s default 195
service. 196
“(2) The Commission may establish exemptions from the price cap, or establish a 197
price cap that exceeds 110% of the price of the gas company’s default service, for specific 198
natural gas suppliers or types of natural gas supply contracts; provided, that the Commission 199
determines that doing so is in the public interest. In making this determination, the Commission 200
may consider the following factors, along with any other factor the Commission deems relevant: 201
“(A) Whether a proposed service is new or innovative; 202
“(B) The potential for the service to result in long-term savings for 203
residential customers; 204
“(C) Any other energy-related benefits the service may provide, such as 205
improvements in energy efficiency or the ability of residential customers to manage their energy 206
costs; and 207
“(D) The potential costs or financial risks to customers. 208
“(3) The Commission may modify or revoke an exemption or a higher price cap 209
established pursuant to this paragraph if the Commission determines that the exemption or higher 210
price cap is no longer in the public interest or is otherwise no longer warranted. 211
“(c) A contract that contains a price for natural gas supply that exceeds an applicable 212
price cap established pursuant to this section, including a contract entered into before the 213
Commission established the price cap, shall: 214
“(1) Be deemed null and void as against public policy; 215
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“(2) Not be considered null and void under this subsection if amended to be in 216
compliance with the price cap within 60 days of the establishment of the price cap; provided, that 217
the contract was either entered into before the Commission established the price cap, or entered 218
into at a price for natural gas supply that was in compliance with the price cap initially and then 219
exceeded the applicable price cap after the price of the gas company’s default service changed. 220
“(d)(1) The Commission shall require each natural gas supplier to share the standard 221
contract terms for each contract to be offered to a residential customer on a Commission-222
approved comparison website before the contract is offered to the residential customer. 223
“(2) The Commission shall determine which standard contract terms offered by a 224
natural gas supplier shall be posted to the Commission-approved website. 225
“(3) The Commission may designate its own website as the Commission-226
approved website, or another website that assists residential customers in comparing natural gas 227
supply contracts from different natural gas suppliers. 228
“(4) Natural gas suppliers shall notify the Commission when the standard contract 229
terms for a new contract are posted to the Commission-approved website, when the standard 230
contract terms for a contract posted to the Commission-approved website are modified, and when 231
a contract is removed from the Commission-approved website. The Commission may establish 232
rules regarding the form, content, and frequency at which such notifications must be provided to 233
the Commission. 234
“(e) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Commission shall establish 235
additional reporting requirements for natural gas suppliers supplying natural gas to residential 236
customers as follows: 237
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“(1) The Commission shall require natural gas suppliers to report the following 238
information: 239
“(A) Name of natural gas supplier; 240
“(B) Number of distinct rates offered by each natural gas supplier and the 241
price offered for each rate; 242
“(C) Number of customers subscribed to each rate; 243
“(D) Sales volume (therms) for each rate; 244
“(E) Number of customers in arrears and average arrears per customer, 245
reported by rate; 246
“(F) Number of customers who switched to and from the natural gas 247
supplier during the reporting period for each rate; and 248
“(G) Number of customers with different contract lengths for each rate. 249
“(2)(A) The Commission shall determine which information provided by a natural 250
gas supplier pursuant to paragraph (1) of this subsection shall be deemed confidential for the 251
purposes of protecting proprietary business information. 252
“(B) The Commission may direct natural gas suppliers to submit both 253
confidential and public versions of any required report, with confidential information redacted 254
from the public version. 255
“(C) The Commission shall make available to the public copies of natural 256
gas supplier reports, with all confidential information redacted. 257
“(D) The Commission shall share, upon request, copies of confidential 258
versions of supply reports with the Office of the People’s Counsel, the Office of the Attorney 259
General, and the Department of Energy and Environment. 260
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“(3) Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit the use of confidential information 261
to prepare statistics or other general data for publication when the statistics or other general data 262
are published in a manner that prevents identification of particular persons or individual 263
customer account information. 264
“(4) Nothing in this subsection shall limit the authority of the Commission to 265
establish additional reporting requirements, including the frequency for reporting of the 266
information in paragraph (1) of this subsection, or to continue existing reporting requirements. 267
“(f) The requirements in subsections (a), (b), and (c) of this section shall not apply to 268
natural gas supplied by or through: 269
“(1) The gas company’s default service; 270
“(2) A municipal aggregation program for the purchase of natural gas; or 271
“(3) The District government, the federal government, or the agencies and 272
instrumentalities of the District government or federal government. 273
“(g) The Commission shall issue rules or orders to implement this section within 270 274
days after the effective date this act.”. 275
(d) Section 12(a)(1)(D) (D.C. Official Code § 34-1671.11(a)(1)(D)) is amended by 276
striking the phrase “purposes or” and inserting the phrase “purposes, for the reporting 277
requirements in this act, or” in its place. 278
Sec. 4. Fiscal impact statement. 279
The Council adopts the fiscal impact statement in the committee report as the fiscal 280
impact statement required by section 4a of the General Legislative Procedures Act of 1975, 281
approved October 16, 2006 (120 Stat. 2038; D.C. Official Code § 1-301.47a). 282
Sec. 5. Effective date. 283
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This act shall take effect following approval by the Mayor (or in the event of veto by the 284
Mayor, action by the Council to override the veto), a 30-day period of Congressional review as 285
provided in section 602(c)(1) of the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, approved December 286
24, 1973 (87 Stat. 813; D.C. Official Code § 1-206.02(c)(1)), and publication in the District of 287
Columbia Register. 288
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