Gov. Martin O'Malley, questioning whether the relationship between BGE and its corporate parent has unfairly contributed to higher electric rates, has asked the Public Service Commission to hold expedited hearings on whether the company should be broken up and whether the utility's 1.1 million customers should receive rebates.
O'Malley said in a letter to PSC Chairman Steven B. Larsen that he has significant concerns about the dual role some executives play at BGE and the parent company, Constellation Energy Group, and whether that relationship led BGE to pay more for electricity than it should have.
"We need to know whether the relationship between BGE and Constellation may have contributed to the rate increase faced by Maryland's consumers this summer," O'Malley said.
O'Malley promised during last year's election campaign to stop the large BGE rate increases that came during the administration of his predecessor, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., and he has faced intense criticism for failing to do so. A 50 percent electric rate increase for BGE customers took effect July 1, on top of a 15 percent increase last summer.
The governor has taken steps in recent days to encourage conservation and to prevent future rate shocks. But his letter to Larsen, obtained by The Sun yesterday, is the first suggestion that he hasn't given up on rolling back the rates.
Constellation spokesman Robert L. Gould said that the company will participate fully in any such hearings and that Constellation has followed all federal and state regulations.
"We continue to be confident that our rates reflect the true market price for electricity," Gould said. "They are the same if not lower than what other utilities are charging in Maryland and surrounding states in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast."
Del. Patrick L. McDonough, a Baltimore County Republican who has been active on electrical issues, said that O'Malley is on the right track.
"The present system does not benefit consumers," McDonough said. "The Constellation execs cannot serve two masters. BGE should be an independent company. It should have its own power plants as it did in the past, and we should have access to that nuclear power plant [at Calvert Cliffs], and under the present system, we can't do any of those things."
Del. Dereck E. Davis, a Prince George's County Democrat and chairman of the committee that handles electrical power issues, said O'Malley should be commended for his interest in utility policy.
