People S Counsel

The state's consumer advocate on utility matters continues to push for additional concessions to make the Constellation-Exelon merger more palatable to consumers. The Maryland Office of People's Counsel said in a brief filed Monday that the two energy giants have not demonstrated that the proposed $7.9 billion merger is in the public's interest and would not harm customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric, Constellation's regulated utility. The People's Counsel also said the companies' settlement with Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state did not allay its concerns.

One word would accurately describe the remarks by Baltimore Gas and Electric officials and the Maryland Office of People's Counsel in their case to increase rates - babble ("BGE to make case for increase," Dec. 2). The customers should not have to pay one penny for the company's so-called funding of infrastructure improvements needed for reliable service. Let BGE stop wasteful spending on unnecessary advertising. The truth of the matter is that real reliable service from BGE will not come until the utility admits that their major problem is a shortage of power restoration crews.

Rejecting charges that it has accelerated service shut-offs and denied help to low-income customers, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. urged state regulators yesterday to dismiss a petition calling for an investigation of the utility's credit and collection policies. BGE's response comes two weeks after the state People's Counsel filed a petition seeking the probe with the Maryland Public Service Commission claiming that the utility has shut off service to more than 22,700 residential customers since April, including about 2,000 low-income customers who qualified for state energy assistance.

The state's consumer advocate on utility matters continues to push for additional concessions to make the Constellation-Exelon merger more palatable to consumers. The Maryland Office of People's Counsel said in a brief filed Monday that the two energy giants have not demonstrated that the proposed $7.9 billion merger is in the public's interest and would not harm customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric, Constellation's regulated utility. The People's Counsel also said the companies' settlement with Gov. Martin O'Malley and the state did not allay its concerns.

In July 1989, a group of Churchville residents began rallying efforts to fight a 500-foot communications tower proposed near the Harford County Airpark.A year later, a second group of residents near Monkton began organizing an offensive to defeat plans by Bell Atlantic Mobile Corp. to build a 280-foot communications tower near the historic My Ladys Manor.As both cases proceeded through the county zoning review process,residents argued that the towers would conflict with the historic character of their communities, lower property values, and create health and safety hazards.

In a five-minute administrative hearing today, the Maryland Public Service Commission granted the Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. a $123.7 million increase in its electric rates.At the same time, the PSC ordered a $58 million reduction in the company's fuel cost adjustment rate, leaving consumers to pay a net increase of almost $66 million, or 3.7 percent. Both actions had received preliminary approval by the PSC last December, as part of a rate decision totaling $149 million. That decision followed a seven-month hearing process.

An offer from the two lawyers in Baltimore County's People's Counsel office to surrender a combined $13,000 in salary next year has prompted County Executive Roger B. Hayden to relent and leave intact the position of deputy people's counsel.The decision appears to defuse what had become a hot controversy among community groups over one of Mr. Hayden's smallest budget cuts, first proposed last spring. Because of the furor, he delayed the cut until Dec. 31 and then again until March 31.To save $12,000, Mr. Hayden proposed replacing Deputy People's Counsel Peter Max Zimmerman with a lower-paid paralegal.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has reached an agreement with major electricity users, environmental groups and consumer representatives that could add an estimated 42 cents to the monthly bill of an average residential customer to help pay for the company's conservation program.BG&E plans to submit a proposal in mid-July for the rate increase, which could become effective during the summer, BG&E spokeswoman Peggy Mulloy said.The extra fee would pay for such things as rebates to customers who buy energy-efficient equipment and compensation to the utility for business lost because of its conservation efforts.

Constellation president to streamline companyRandall M. Griffin, the new president of Constellation Real Estate Group Inc., plans to begin streamlining the real estate unit of Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. over the next few months.The menu is likely to include repositioning some of Constellation's shopping centers and crafting swaps or rezonings to reduce its $230 million stash of undeveloped land.Mr. Griffin, the former EuroDisney development executive who joined Columbia-based Constellation last month, says his mandate is to boost operating income.

The Public Service Commission has decided that consumers must pay part of the cost related to the breakdown of a Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. power plant -- a decision that could have far more expensive consequences in a separate case yet to be decided.While the latest decision involved only a few million dollars, it might provide a glimpse into the possible outcome in a three-year-old, $458 million case pending before the PSC.In that case, the commission must decide whether BG&E or its customers should pay for, or share the costs of, replacement power needed after problems arose at the Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant from May 1989 to May 1991.

Maryland's consumer advocate wants the state energy regulator to conduct a "more in-depth investigation" into Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s performance in the wake of Hurricane Irene. The Office of People's Counsel, which represents consumers in utility matters, made the recommendation in a report filed Wednesday with the Public Service Commission, which is reviewing the response by BGE and other utilities to last month's storm. The PSC will hear from utilities in regulatory hearings starting Monday.

The Office of the People's Counsel has recently revamped its website to help Marylanders keep track of upcoming hearings of the state's top utility regulator. The People's Counsel represents consumer interests in utility matters at hearings before the Maryland Public Service Commission and the Maryland General Assembly. The redesigned site, at http://www.opc.state.md.us , also offers tips for consumers with brochures about shopping for an electricity supplier, getting help paying utility bills and more.

Critics of a revised settlement agreement that would resolve outstanding issues with Verizon say state regulators should not deregulate any telephone services. "Maryland can do better than this deal with Verizon," said Rion Dennis, political director of Progressive Maryland. The original agreement was negotiated by Verizon, the staff of the Maryland Public Service Commission and the Office of the People's Counsel, which represents consumers. It tackled several concerns before the commissioners, including complaints from customers who were left without service for long periods and the prices that consumers pay to maintain local calling rates to a different geographical area.

Maryland energy regulators extended hearings Friday on Constellation Energy Group's proposed nuclear joint venture with a French utility, likely delaying yet again a decision on the fate of the deal. Additional hearings are scheduled for Oct. 14, and Oct. 15 if necessary. That means it's unlikely that the Public Service Commission will make a decision by its Oct. 16 deadline, even though the commission has tried to accommodate the companies' concerns over the timeliness of the deal's closing.

Constellation-EDF review essential The Sun's editorial on the proposed Constellation Energy Group-Electricit? de France deal reflects a misunderstanding of the law and the facts ("Separate politics, power," June 14). The Sun chooses to view this legal dispute as a dispute between Gov. Martin O'Malley and Constellation and ignores the fact that other parties are in this case, and they independently came to the same conclusion - that the proposed transaction is subject to regulatory scrutiny under Maryland law. The Office of the People's Counsel, the state of Maryland and the Public Service Commission's technical staff all reviewed the evidence, consulted independent experts and concluded that the proposed Constellation-EDF transaction would result in EDF acquiring the ability to exercise "substantial influence" over Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. If the deal goes through, EDF will have a larger investment in Constellation than all of Constellation's other shareholders put together.

Assembly panel OKs Verizon settlement A House of Delegates committee has unanimously approved a bill directing state regulators to approve an agreement with Verizon about delayed repairs and deregulation of some bundled telephone services. The settlement, negotiated by Verizon, the Maryland Public Service Commission staff and the Office of the People's Counsel, calls for the company to pay $1 million to customers with repair complaints, increase some fees and lower others for regional telephone service, and deregulate some bundled products.

Fallston residents engaged in a war against a proposed $6 million foster care complex in their neighborhood are down to their last battle.The residents have been fighting the Board of Child Care since late 1990, when the agency of the United Methodist Church announced its intention to build a group home for 60 abused and neglected children on 26 acres it owns at Harford and Reckord roads.But the residents have lost every round."We're going back to the beginning, when zoning decisions were made," said Salvatore Glorioso, president of the Fallston Meadows Community Association who lives across Harford Road from the site.

The largest conservation group in Anne Arundel County has drafted a plan for a people's counsel to represent environmental and community concerns in land development issues."

Frank Margolis doesn't think his Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. bill is nearly steep enough. Intent on finding a way to pay the utility more than what he is billed every month, the 70-year-old professor e-mailed me a few weeks ago for help. This is not a request I get every day. Margolis was chatting recently with a colleague who was complaining bitterly about utility bills that topped $400 to $500 a month. Margolis went home to dig out his own June statement - $111. Upon closer examination, Margolis noticed that BGE had failed to charge him at all for the amount of electricity he used.

Paula M. Carmody recently stepped into the role of people's counsel at what may prove a watershed moment for Maryland's residential utility customers. The state's Public Service Commission is in the midst of a sweeping review of electric deregulation rules that critics contend contributed to a 72 percent rate hike for customers of Baltimore Gas & Electric last year. As the state's chief advocate for utility customers, the new people's counsel is charged with pressing the commission to adopt changes that will take the sting out of future utility bills.