With most Maryland consumers sticking with their electric utility despite having lower-cost options, a key state lawmaker has suggested they could be forced to comparison shop when signing up for service.
The proposal could become part of a broader discussion in the General Assembly about the state's electricity markets and ways to get cheaper power and address an impending supply crunch.
At a hearing in Annapolis on Tuesday, Del. Dereck E. Davis, chairman of the Economic Matters Committee, floated the idea of offering consumers a menu of options rather than having a default provider and leaving them to seek out other suppliers on their own.
The panel has begun a study of the energy industry after rejecting Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal to re-regulate the markets during this year's legislative session, delivering a major defeat. Davis, a Prince George's County Democrat, has said the governor didn't give his committee enough time to digest the proposal.
"Although the bill was overwhelmingly defeated," Davis said of O'Malley's proposal, "let no one take that as a ringing endorsement of the current structure."
O'Malley has said he plans to resurrect his proposal as a priority in next year's session. He would give state regulators the ability to regulate all future power generation and end customer choice as part of the move back to a regulated system.
Since the state deregulated markets in 1999, only 3 percent of residential customers have taken advantage of their ability to shop among suppliers that were allowed to compete with utilities such as Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. More than 5,000 BGE customers made the switch in April, though, in a significant uptick from previous months.
"Most people aren't aware that they have a choice," said Del. Joseph J. Minnick, a Baltimore County Democrat.
Public Service Commission Chairman Douglas Nazarian said that retail suppliers have not been able to undercut utility service until recently and that his agency has not conducted a public education campaign in several years. He plans to host a "meet and greet" with retail suppliers this week.
