Politics & Government

Paying More: BGE Wins OK for Rate Hike; Pepco Seeks Increase

State authorities have approved a $2.13 monthly increase for BGE utility customers. And, Pepco has asked the state for permission to raise its rates.

Customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will pay more for electricity and natural gas service after Maryland regulators approved this year's second rate increase Friday and also OK'd a monthly surcharge on electric bills over the protests of consumer advocates, the Baltimore Sun said.

While it has yet to be approved, Montgomery County residents face a request for rate increases by Pepco, Patch earlier reported.

Pepco asked the Maryland Public Service Commission on Wednesday for approval of a rate increase request of more than $43 million. If granted, the request would increase the "average residential bill for its half-million customers in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties by $4.80 a month," The Washington Post reported.

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"Pepco is within its rights to seek such approval," Montgomery County Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda and Potomac), said in a statement, but "it is the responsibility of the [Maryland Public Service] Commission to scrutinize that request and ensure that only those expenditures that were prudently incurred and that are 'used and useful' are allowed to be passed through to ratepayers," he said.

Recent rate increase requests have typically been cut in half or more by the commission, Berliner added. 

Find out what's happening in Columbiawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Gaithersburg City Council plans to file a petition opposing Pepco’s request to increase its rates by 12 percent.

Maryland's Public Service Commission more than halved BGE’s request for an increase in the rates paid to maintain and improve its infrastructure, the Sun reported. Two of the five commissioners objected to the surcharge, which is the first levied on BGE customers for reliability-related work. But the other three called it necessary to improve the utility’s infrastructure.

The higher distribution rates — the charge for moving energy to customers — will amount to an extra $2.13 a month on the average residential electric bill for BGE customers and an additional 73 cents on the average residential gas bill, the Sun said. The increase takes effect immediately.

The surcharge will begin in April for electric customers, the newspaper reported. On average residential bills, it will add 8 cents a month, increasing annually until it hits 36 cents a month in the fifth and final year.

The group Change Maryland – led by Republican gubernatorial candidate Larry Hogan – on Tuesday blamed Gov. Martin O'Malley for rising utility costs, the Baltimore Sun reports.

A report card issued this week by Change Maryland said residents' electricity rates are 43 percent higher now than they were when O'Malley took office. That compares with a 24 percent increase nationwide, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

The hike includes a large part of the 72 percent BGE rate increase that was already in the works before O'Malley took office — the rest had already taken effect in 2006, the Sun said.


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