Petition · To the Maryland Public Service Commission and Maryland's utilities
We ask the Maryland Public Service Commission and Maryland's electric and gas utilities to keep a standing medical-equipment flag on every account that needs one, to hold a flagged account for 90 days and connect it with energy assistance before any termination, and to never disconnect a flagged household without first reaching a person inside it.
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A standing registry
Every utility keeps a medical-equipment registry. When a household documents that someone at home depends on powered equipment, the account is flagged and stays flagged until the household removes it. No one should have to re-prove a ventilator in the middle of a crisis.
90 days and a referral
When a flagged account falls behind, the utility holds any termination for 90 days and refers the household to energy assistance inside that window, so the time is used to fix the balance rather than wait it out.
A documented contact
A flagged account is never terminated until the utility has documented a live contact with the household, by phone or in person. A letter to an address is not the same as reaching the person whose oxygen depends on the outlet.
Maryland already has a medical certification. A licensed practitioner certifies that losing service would endanger someone's health, and the utility postpones the termination for 30 days. The certification can be renewed. It does not erase the balance.
That rule works when the form arrives on time. In practice it asks a family in a medical emergency to get the form from the utility, get it to a doctor's office, get it completed, get it back, and then do all of that again each month while they look for a way to pay. Miss a step and the clock restarts at zero.
Through the Critical Medical Needs Program, which we run under contract with the Maryland Department of Human Services, we have processed more than 1,000 applications for households where power is medical equipment: oxygen concentrators, CPAP machines, home dialysis, refrigerated insulin, powered wheelchairs. We see what happens when a form is a day late. We see it every week.
A registry, a 90-day hold with a referral, and a documented contact would turn a protection that depends on paperwork into one that depends on the account. Nothing about the balance changes. What changes is who carries the risk of a missed form.
Today's rule, in one sentence
A medical certification from a licensed practitioner postpones a termination for 30 days and can be renewed. It does not erase the balance.
Thirty days is a real protection. It is also a monthly deadline placed on the household least able to meet one. This petition asks the utilities to carry that deadline instead.
Today
The ask
A Maryland 501(c)(3) nonprofit. We run the Critical Medical Needs Program under contract with the Maryland Department of Human Services, have processed more than 1,000 CMNP applications and have helped secure more than $20 million in assistance for Maryland households. In 2026 the Department honored us with the Vulnerable Population Expert Award. We are asking because we process the applications every day and see where the rules let people fall.
1,000+
CMNP applications
$20M+
In assistance secured
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