The State of Maryland has begun its purchase of receivables (POR) program in certain parts of the state, with other sections of the state taking effect in 2011. Overall, this will make it easier for our customers to choose to lower their energy rates.

With POR*, our vendor is no longer conducting credit checks for new sign-ups in those parts of the state that receive natural gas and electricity from BGE, as well as electricity from Allegheny Power and Delmarva Power.

The sections of Maryland that have electricity service from Pepco and natural-gas service from Washington Gas will continue to have their applicati0ons checked for credit until sometime in 2011.

People sometimes freak out when they see "credit check." We want to assure our prospective customers that the type of credit check run by our vendor does not affect a person's credit score in any way. The credit check involves a person's address, and not their own personal credit. You are never asked to provide any personal information -- like social-security number or driver's license number -- during the sign-up process. The only number you need to provide is your utility account number(s).

All of that said, we do need to emphasize that your billing needs to be up-to-date with your utility (no current late notices or shut-off/disconnect notices). And we still have minimum-usage requirements, which can be found in the General section of our Questions page.

There's even more good news. If a customer was previously blocked due to a past due payment or other reasons, our vendor will review all blocked customers to try to get them enrolled. If a customer has paid off our vendor (WGES), the enrollment will be processed.

*POR has to do with how our vendor deals with debt from customers who do not pay their bills. It's pretty mind-numbing stuff, so we won't go into it here. But if you want to read all about it (and I mean all about it), click here for a PDF from the State of Maryland.