For those who missed it in yesterday's newspaper, Paul Adams wrote about Ohms Energy's problems. They couldn't meet capital requirements for the grid, so all Ohms customers are back to BGE's basic product, which is more expensive. It should be a fairly seamless process: BGE sends you a letter, and you're billed at the higher rate next month. Ohms was among the most aggressive alternative providers trying to undercut the price of BGE's standard product last year and early this year. From Adams' story:

The state Public Service Commission indefinitely suspended Ohms' license to sell power Friday after it fell behind on payments to suppliers and disclosed that it could no longer serve its 2,100 customers.

Regulatory documents indicate the company ran out of money and couldn't come up with the collateral required to comply with energy market trading rules.

Ohms and other retail power marketers have also fallen victim to volatile energy prices and a regulatory scheme that allowed BGE to acquire its power supply this year at a price many competitors big and small find they can't beat.

Ohms' customers were notified last week that they will be getting their power from BGE, which is required to take back customers if a competing supplier defaults. The PSC said it doesn't know of any customers who lost money as a result, and White declined to comment on the matter yesterday. But those who signed up with Ohms will no longer get the small savings the company promised over BGE's rate.