Maryland passed utility bill relief and left master-metered co-ops and condos out of it
Maryland passed utility bill relief and left master-metered co-ops and condos out of it
2026-09-12 · Maryland · Legislation · Did not pass
What happened. Maryland enacted utility ratepayer relief in 2026. A companion bill written specifically to make sure master-metered cooperatives and condominiums shared in it died in both chambers without a committee vote.
The Co-Op and Condo Energy Refund Equity Act was filed as HB 702 by Delegate Korman and two others and as SB 434 by Senator Love. HB 702 got a first reading in House Environment and Transportation on 2 February 2026 and a hearing on 24 February; SB 434 went to Senate Budget and Taxation on 30 January with a hearing on 25 February. Neither received a report. Both died at sine die on 13 April 2026.12
The problem the bill's own title names
Energy refunds and credits in Maryland are delivered to residential customers — the account holders on a utility's residential tariff. In a master-metered building the account holder is the association, on a commercial account, not the individual households behind it.
So when the State directs money back to residential customers, individually metered households receive it and master-metered cooperative and condominium residents, who are paying the same energy costs through their monthly charges, do not. The short title — Energy Refund Equity — is a description of that gap.
The bills would have altered the authorised uses of specified compliance fee revenue paid into the Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund, requiring specified monies to be used as refunds or credits to residential customers in fiscal year 2027 — SB 434's version specifying residential customers for electric service.1
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Related Maryland HOA Topics
- House Bill 702 (2026), Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund – Uses – Cooperative Housing Corporations and Condominiums (Co-Op and Condo Energy Refund Equity Act) — first reading in House Environment and Transportation 2 February 2026, hearing 24 February, no committee report, died at sine die ↩
- Senate Bill 434 (2026) — the cross-file; first reading in Senate Budget and Taxation 30 January 2026, hearing 25 February, no committee report, died at sine die ↩
- House Bill 1532 (2026), the Utility RELIEF Act — enacted as Chapter 353 of the Acts of 2026 (cross-file SB 841 died) ↩
- CAI Advocacy, 2026 Maryland End of Legislative Session Report — itemised positions on ten 2026 bills; neither HB 702 nor SB 434 appears ↩
- House Bill 220 (2026), Environment – Water – Individual Submeters — Chapter 262, effective 1 October 2026, amending Environment § 9-1115 and Real Property § 8-205.3 (landlord-tenant); applies to residential apartment units and mobile home parks, not to condominiums or homeowners associations ↩
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