Customers

Power was restored last night to the remaining 300 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers in Lansdowne who were among the 14,000 homes and businesses who lacked power for most of yesterday after a pole fire cut electricity there and in Halethorpe, a spokesman for the utility said.The cause of the 8:40 a.m. fire wasn't known, said the spokesman, Charles Franklin. By 1 p.m., the utility had restored power to all but 700 customers, Mr. Franklin said. The final 300 customers had power by 8:30 p.m.A BGE service operator had put out the fire by the time the Baltimore County Fire Department responded, he said.

More than 2 million Verizon customers in Maryland will receive an average credit of $7 on their local telephone bills in the next several weeks, under a settlement stemming from a seven-year lawsuit over late fees. The $16.8 million in consumer compensation ends the class action lawsuit against Bell Atlantic-Maryland, now Verizon Maryland. The complaint, filed in 1999, alleged that the phone company charged late fees exceeding the state's legal limit of 6 percent a year. (The law was changed in 2000 to raise the late-fee limit.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. will test its wings in the fast-growing gas brokering business next month, offering to buy and transmit natural gas for big industrial and commercial customers in a nine-month trial authorized by the state Public Service Commission.The move is part of the company's response to a growth of competition that is restructuring the gas business nationally.Growing numbers of big customers are using their buying leverage to win price breaks through middlemen who purchase directly at the wellhead and arrange pipeline transmission across the country.

Digital clocks were flashing around Central Maryland yesterday afternoon after a circuit breaker blew in South Baltimore, affecting power to all Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. customers, a company spokeswoman said.No one lost power as a result of the malfunction at 3:17 p.m., but lights dimmed, computers slowed, and other electrical appliances were affected, Peggy Mulloy, the spokeswoman, said.A separate incident in the Glen Burnie area at about the same time resulted in lost power for about 1,500 customers, she said.

Despite intense opposition from disgruntled customers, the Maryland Public Service Commission has granted an $11.3 million rate increase to Potomac Edison, the power company that serves western Carroll County.The increase -- the company's second in three months -- was approved last week, the company said in a news release yesterday.The request for the increase drew strong criticism at commission hearings in November from customers who said the company has not provided adequate service.Company officials said the increase includes $2 million for adjustments to comply with federal Clean Air Act Amendments.

More than 800 customers of Potomac Edison Co. between Mount Airy and Taylorsville lost electric power about 6 a.m. yesterday, a company spokesman said.All of the customers, along Route 27, had power restored by 11:05 a.m., the spokesman said. He said the outage was caused by equipment problems, and service crews would work late to make repairs.FIRE* Berrett: Winfield, Sykesville and Lisbon of Howard County were dispatched to a chimney fire in the 500 block of Danmarth Road at 9:58 a.m. yesterday.

Call it ExamScam.Mercantile Safe Deposit & Trust Co. customers are finding notices in their checking account statement this month warning them that telephone con men have found one of the most creative ways yet of reaching out and touching your wallet -- by claiming to be federal bank examiners.The irony of con men pretending to be the very people who are supposed to keep banks honest is lost on few. These fine "public servants" just need a little help from you or your business -- in the form of your checking account number -- to conduct a very, very important investigation.

Provident Bankshares Corp., the state's largest independent bank, agreed yesterday to sell itself to M&T Bank, becoming the latest Baltimore financial institution to be acquired. So what does the proposed deal mean for employees, customers and the community? Here's a look: How will my account be affected? Provident Bank customers should see no changes immediately. You can continue to use your account and other products as you always have. Once the deal closes, expected in the second quarter of 2009, the two banks will undergo a conversion and integration process.

You could call Denise Hull's customers obsessed.For years, they've come to the Calico Mouse in Annapolis in search of just the right gnome, mouse, angel, porcelain doll or Smith Brothers reproduction cookie tin to add to their collections."

Crown Central Petroleum Corp. will begin a marketing program today aimed at charting customer buying habits through a magnetic card system, company officials said.The Baltimore-based refiner and gasoline station operator's "Road to Redemption Customer Reward Program" is one of the first in the United States, modeled after a European venture that has been used for years by various petroleum firms.Crown is investing roughly $1.3 million in the effort, which will allow customers to collect points on a magnetic card similar to those used with automated teller machine systems.