Baltimore Gas and Electric and Delmarva Power customers will see their electric rates increase on average by about $16 a month beginning on Sunday.
However, the Maryland Public Service Commission has stepped in and is trying to flatten those bills and spread the price hike out over a longer period.
Maryland Public Service Commission Chair Fred Hoover told WTOP the order the commission approved will spread the increase given to the two utilities by six months instead of three, avoiding what would be a steep jump in rates at a time when consumers are using more electricity to run air conditioning and high-energy appliances.
“What we’ve tried to do with these two orders is to spread the rate increase out over a longer time period, lowering the per month impact that it will have,” he said. “The original proposal was to have this happen effective June 1, and so the impact would come through June, July and August. Now, what we’re doing is spreading it out over this longer time period.”
Hoover added that had the PSC not taken this action, rates would have increased by as much as $30 a month. He added the commission’s order requires the utilities to “shift recovery of some supply costs to lower-usage months over a six-month period.”
In a statement to WTOP, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, the state’s consumer advocate, applauded the PSC’s order and said it’s an attempt to save customers money as capacity market prices increase.
“We applaud the Commission’s intention to mitigate the impacts to BGE customers of the capacity market price increases,” the statement said.
However, the People’s Counsel said the action doesn’t go far enough:
“Customers deserve more, however, and we hope the Commission acts to give BGE gas customers and Delmarva Power electric customers, the full refunds they are owed. BGE gas customers are owed a refund of $6.4 million because BGE over-recovered from customers during 2024. Further, Delmarva Power customers are owed more than the $800,000; they should receive credits totaling $6.5 million for over-recovering in 2024.”
Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here.
© 2025 WTOP. All Rights Reserved. This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area.
