Baltimore Gas & Electric seeking approval to increase rates

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) is seeking approval from the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to increase its natural gas and electric delivery rates to reflect the cost of safety and reliability improvements it has made.

Under BGE’s proposal, the average residential electric-only customer’s bill would increase by $3.74, and the average residential gas-only customer’s bill would go up by $5.27. However, the average residential customer’s bill would still be ten percent lower than it was more than a decade ago, BGE says. If approved, the electric rate adjustment would be the first since 2015. Natural gas rates were last adjusted in 2018.

“While we know that any proposed increase may be a challenge for some of our customers, we also know that our customers value the high level of service that they have come to expect and deserve, which only comes from continuing the significant investments that we are making in our energy delivery systems,” Calvin Butler Jr., chief executive officer of BGE, said. “The proposed increase balances our efforts to deliver world-class service, innovative energy efficiency programs, and maintain our costs at or below the mid-Atlantic regional average.”

Bills have remained lower over the past decade due, in part, to significant decreases in commodity prices. Also, BGE’s Smart Energy Savers Program has provided $570 million in rebates and $308 million in bill credits to customers.

BGE spent $1.8 billion to improve services for customers, including inspecting 37,000 pole, upgrading 15 overhead circuit routes, replacing 80 miles of underground circuits, trimming 2,440 miles of vegetation located along distribution lines, replacing more than 60 miles of gas main, replacing more than 10,000 gas services, and maintaining approximately 4,000 miles of gas main.