Baltimore Gas

Forecasters are watching an expected outbreak of severe weather from Illinois to Maryland that some are likening to last June's derecho; one meteorologist predicted it would be a "multi billion dollar storm" causing massive power outages. Storms were developing in Illinois and Wisconsin early Wednesday evening, bringing tornado threats from there through Indiana and into Ohio. Meteorologists say conditions could be conducive for those storms to strengthen into a massive squall line packing up to 70 mph winds, large hail and heavy rain.

Worried about your air conditioner getting through the summer? See if Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. rebates could help with a tune-up or replacement. BGE said today that customers buying new heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems can qualify for a rebate of as much as $1,150 if they choose high-efficiency options. BGE says it also offers a $100 rebate for residents bringing in a contractor to ensure their AC is operating as well as it can. The contractor must participate in the BGE Cooling Efficiency Improvement Program . The utility offers rebates for other items , too, including refrigerators and washers.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is warning customers about scams in which people pose as BGE employees in person or over the telephone to steal money, valuables or credit card information. A recent scam has targeted customers over the telephone, BGE said. Callers say service will be terminated and direct customers to pay by buying a "Green Dot" Visa credit card. Customers are given another phone number where information is obtained from a customer's credit card. But the funds are not used to pay BGE bills, BGE said.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. asked Friday for another rate increase, three months after winning approval for higher charges, and company officials said they expect to seek more in the future. It's the third time in as many years that BGE has requested higher distribution rates. If approved, the typical residential customer getting both electricity and gas would pay about $72 more a year for distribution. Company officials said they expect to ask for frequent rate increases as they seek reimbursement for more aggressive tree-trimming, infrastructure upgrades and other work aimed at improving service.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. asked Friday for another rate increase, three months after winning approval for higher charges, and company officials said they expect to seek more in the future. It's the third time in as many years that BGE has requested higher distribution rates. If approved, the typical residential customer getting both electricity and gas would pay about $72 more a year for distribution. Company officials said they expect to ask for frequent rate increases as they seek reimbursement for more aggressive tree-trimming, infrastructure upgrades and other work aimed at improving service.

EASTPOINT -- Some Eastpoint residents were evacuated from their homes last night after a Baltimore County public works crew digging in the area broke a natural gas line, said a spokeswoman for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.Jessica Brown, the BGE spokeswoman, said the crew was doing excavation work in the 800 block of Jaydee Ave. about 7: 30 p.m. when equipment lifted a section of a 1 1/4 -inch gas line, which broke and began to leak.As a safety precaution, Brown said, about 40 residents were evacuated from their homes while BGE emergency crews repaired the line.

Double-punched by nuclear repair costs and a weakening real estate market, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s profits fell by more than $14 million, or one-third of last year's level, in the last three months of 1990, the company reported yesterday.For the year, BG&E reported its earnings fell to $213 million, down $63 million, or 23 percent, from 1989's level.Warm weather and lower prices cut natural gas sales, leaving the total revenues for the quarter down slightly, the company said. For the year, revenues grew $155 million, or 7.7 percent, to more than $2.1 billion.

Lewis Addison Beck, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. lawyer who loved the sea and ships, died of heart failure March 23 at the Rodgers Forge home of a goddaughter. The former Roland Park resident was 96. Born in Baltimore, Mr. Beck lived in the same Victorian-era home on Oakdale Road from 1912 until 2002, when he moved to Roland Park Place. Since last year, he had lived with Elizabeth B.G. Renwick, a goddaughter. Mr. Beck went to sea at age 13 when he signed on a ship for a voyage from Baltimore to Cuba.

Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., accustomed to raking in checks each month as customers pay utility bills, may soon be handing out checks instead. And the payments probably can't come soon enough for the recipients - 25 homeowners in Northeast Baltimore whose electrical appliances were damaged or destroyed July 17 as workers installed a utility pole in the 5000 block of Crosswood Ave. "As we were working to replace the pole that needed to be replaced, another...

Roy E. Braly, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. engineer and decorated World War II bomber pilot, died Sunday of complications from an infection at the Augsburg Lutheran Home and Village in Arbutus. He was 88. Mr. Braly, the son of an airport owner, was born and raised in Spring Lake, N.J. He was a graduate of Asbury Park High School in New Jersey. His interest in flying began when he was a youngster. "One time, he flew with Amelia Earhart from his father's airport to see the arrival of the Hindenburg at the Lakehurst Naval Air Station," said his wife of 12 years, the former Jeanne Macon.

Robert M. Douglass, former chief engineer of Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.'s Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant, died Monday of cancer at his home in Port Republic, Calvert County. He was 88. The son of an electrical engineer and a homemaker, Robert Mann Douglass was born in Hartford, Conn., and raised in Wethersfield, Conn., where he graduated in 1942 from Wethersfield High School. He served as a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne in the Pacific and with occupying forces in Japan during World War II. After the war, he enrolled at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., where he earned his bachelor's degree in electrical engineering in 1950.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said it will give $25 to each residential customer who recycles a working room air-conditioning unit at an event this weekend. The utility said consumers can drop off the room units at two Sears locations, Eastpoint Mall in Dundalk and Hunt Valley Towne Centre in Cockeysville. BGE said workers will unload the units from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday (May 4) and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday (May 5) . BGE said it will pay $25 for each room air-conditioning unit -- up to two per customer -- as part of its Smart Energy Savers Program . Checks will be mailed about four weeks after the recycling event.

In the year since Exelon Corp. acquired Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group, the company has donated more than $300,000 to first-responders in the region. It is handing out thousands of free trees to Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers. It is helping fund energy-efficient homes for low-income residents. That's much like the year before the merger, nonprofits say. "They're carrying out their volunteer commitments at a very high level," said Elise Lee, chief development officer for United Way of Central Maryland.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is warning customers about scams in which people pose as BGE employees in person or over the telephone to steal money, valuables or credit card information. A recent scam has targeted customers over the telephone, BGE said. Callers say service will be terminated and direct customers to pay by buying a "Green Dot" Visa credit card. Customers are given another phone number where information is obtained from a customer's credit card. But the funds are not used to pay BGE bills, BGE said.

There were more cold days in this winter than last, so Central Maryland residents should expect to receive higher energy bills, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. said Friday. "Although BGE's commodity prices have remained stable … extreme weather generally triggers significant increases in energy usage, which in turn can lead to higher-than-expected bills," said Jeannette M. Mills, vice president and chief customer officer for BGE. "Even when the thermostat is kept at the same temperature, heating units must work harder to maintain the set temperature," Mills said.

Once again, Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller and the Democratic Party have shown their lack of respect for Maryland residents. They chose to cost us hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue when we had a Republican governor who wanted to bring casino gambling to Maryland and they refused. Now they want us to pay a fee to support the upgrade of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. natural gas lines. And would we even be talking about a gas tax now if gambling had come to Maryland when there was a Republican governor?

Salary: $24/hour Age: 44 Years on the job: 2 1/2 How she got started: : Kim Allen grew up traveling with her mother, who served in the Air Force. She said the experience of living in places like Japan, Germany and throughout the United States has helped with her career in customer service. Allen has worked as a call center representative for the past several years. She was laid off from her most recent job at the call center of a local fitness center and applied to various companies, ultimately accepting BGE's offer.

The debate continues over whether Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. should start burying its power lines to avoid a repeat of the lengthy outages that swept the area after the derecho storm last month. Another city whose electrical infrastructure was wrecked by a natural disaster 124 years ago took that step. After the Great Blizzard of 1888 dumped 20.9 inches of snow on New York City, pulling down wires, plunging the city into darkness and snarling communications for days, city officials ordered that all overhead wires be buried.

As the clock ticked down Sunday, the morning clouds disappeared, as if they were in on the months-long planning that went into the destruction of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s final natural-gas holding silo. Then, as if someone were turning on Christmas lights, the rings of the cylinder blinked with 420 explosive charges. It took a moment for the noise - like thunder after lightning pierces the sky - for the rat-ta-tat-tat to reach the observers on the roof of Baltimore Polytechnic Institute across the Jones Falls Expressway.

Fifty-eight years after it opened in Highland, Boarman's Old-Fashioned Meat Market is still, in many respects, living up to its name. Boarman family members still mix spices for the pork sausage made in house, the staff butcher still stuffs the sausage skin, still cuts meat to order and, more recently, started smoking bacon with apple wood he gets from a neighbor. Boarman's is possibly Howard County's last all-purpose market that's not part of a chain, offering everything from household cleaners to beer and wine, canned goods, produce, house-made crab cakes and custom cuts of meat.