Jan 24, 2008 6:00 am US/Eastern
PSC Says BGE Rates Heading 5.5 Percent Higher
BALTIMORE (WJZ) ―
You thought you heard the last of it, but BGE rates are going up again.
Mary Bubala explains why the rates are going up and how much.
It's another hit for consumers in an already struggling economy. The sad truth is most experts agree there's nothing we can do to stop another rate hike.
The changes will come in June. That's just in time for the warm summer months when air conditioners are cranking in overtime.
Thanks to changes in federal energy rules, residents will be paying an average 5.5 percent more for electricity.
The Public Service Commission says that it boils down to about an extra $100 per year for the average customer.
Once again BGE says it's not their fault.
"Gasoline, natural gas, heating oil, coal--all the fuels used to make and generate power--have gone up and correspondingly electricity prices are also increasing," said Mark Case with BGE.
The hike will come almost exactly one year after BGE finished raising customers rates to an extra 72 percent. That increase was the direct result of energy deregulation passed by the legislature back in 1999.
"We gave up control of our own energy future, and we are now subject to the tender mercies of BGE, Constellation Energy, their parent company, the federal regulators of the Bush administration. Unfortunately I don't think any of those has the best interest of the rate payers at heart," said Matthew Weinstein with Progressive Maryland.
Governor Martin O'Malley has been criticized for not following through on campaign promises to stop the first BGE rate increase. He now has a plan that would attempt to bring some energy efficiency, conservation, and reduced energy consumption, but he still can't stop the rate increase.
"It's a real thorny problem and he is grappling with it and I think we need to give him time to figure out the best way to do that. But unfortunately the mistakes that were made in 1999 are going to be difficult to correct," said Weinstein.
Progressive Maryland believes the best solution is for the state to build and manage their own power plants, so customers can pay less for electricity.
BGE points out that its per-kilowatt charge for electricity remains lower than nine of the 10 Mid-Atlantic and Northeast states with deregulation.
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