Jennifer and Rob Brewington of Glenwood switched to an alternative electricity supplier two years ago, saved a few dollars and figured they would renew when the deal expired in June. That was before they checked the details.
"It looks like they're raising the rates," says Jennifer Brewington. "Because they were slightly more reasonably priced than BGE back when I signed up with them, I thought they might continue to be."
But the new offer, from Washington Gas Energy Services, was about 17 percent higher than what Baltimore Gas and Electric's standard, electric-supply price will be after June 1. The Brewingtons canceled the WGES deal and went back to BGE.
Which might be a good idea. Because BGE locked up most of its electricity supply for this year months ago, when prices were lower, rival suppliers such as WGES and Commerce Energy are having a hard time undercutting it.
Unless you're dedicated to "green" energy and willing to pay a big premium, the best deal for the rest of the year is likely to be BGE's basic offering. Take that and Gov. Martin O'Malley's $170 electricity rebate as small consolation in a brutal market where the promise of deregulation - that "electric choice" would benefit consumers - is still unfulfilled. If your best move is the same old product from the same old utility, you might have a deregulation problem.
To be sure, BGE's standard price is rising too - by about $4 per month for a typical house. But residential electricity offers from alternative vendors would cost the average family $20 or more a month on top of that.
Alternative vendors aren't even trying very hard. BGE lists only six certified suppliers, and some don't have current offers. By contrast, more than 20 companies are trying to sell power to Maryland businesses. In Texas, where residential electricity competition has taken off, households have dozens of choices.
"People are very leery about committing to the market for residential customers" until the Public Service Commission and other policymakers decide what the regulatory landscape will look like, said Leah Gibbons, a Reliant Energy executive and Maryland chair of the Retail Energy Supply Association, which represents independent vendors.
"You still have an awful lot of uncertainty, because it's not clear what the commission is going to do."
