Maryland legislators ask federal regulators to stop impending energy rate hikes

CBS News

21-05-2025

Lawmakers, commissioners, ask feds to step in as BGE bills rise
Lawmakers, commissioners, ask feds to step in as BGE bills rise
Lawmakers, commissioners, ask feds to step in as BGE bills rise
Maryland officials are pushing federal regulators to step in as Baltimore Gas and Electric customers face a $16 monthly bill increase starting June 1.
In a letter, the Maryland General Assembly said it was writing to share "grave concerns" about PJM Interconnection is the region's power grid operator. PJM operates the power grid for 13 states including Maryland.
The legislators argue that the cost increases slated to take place June 1 are a result of issues in PJM's most recent capacity market auction and inflated payments to Talen Energy for keeping its Maryland plants online.
Most notably, they argue that the auction failed to include two active power plants in the Baltimore area, owned by Talen Energy, as part of the available electricity supply.
A capacity market auction is a competitive bidding process where power companies promise to make their electricity generation available in the future.
According to the legislators, the supply was undercounted - making it seem like less electricity was available, and causing the total cost of electricity across the PJM region to from $2.2 billion to $14.7 billion.
"The Commission must act expeditiously to acknowledge and remedy the problems with last summer's auction that render the results unjust and unreasonable," the legislators wrote.
Maryland continues push back against energy rate hikes
BGE implemented a rate hike on January 1, 2025, that increased the average gas bill by 9% and electric bill by 7%. Many customers reported much larger spikes, with some seeing bill increase more than $200 during winter months.
BGE attributes the increases to several factors, including distribution costs regulated by the PSC, a sharp 30% year-over-year rise in natural gas prices, increased costs for the state-mandated "Empower Maryland" energy efficiency program, and massive spending on gas infrastructure upgrades.
Multi-year rate hike plan
Earlier this month, Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen called for transparency over decisions made on the future of BGE's proposed multi-year rate hikes for 2026.
In a letter, Cohen said Calvin Butler, CEO of BGE's parent company Exelon, stated that they are anticipating a decision on the "lessons learned" about BGE's rate hikes by the end of the second quarter.
If the timeline is accurate, Cohen said he remained extremely concerned that Exelon has access to sensitive information that is not shared with the public, and that the PSC should investigate how the timeline was potentially shared outside the commission and its staff.
The Maryland Public Service Commission approved BGE's multi-year delivery rate hikes in 2023, authorizing a total increase of just under $408 million over three years for both gas and electric services.