Pepco

Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that eliminating the link between power companies' profits and the amount of energy they distribute - a plan recently approved for Pepco, the Washington-area utility - could be one of the most effective strategies for reducing electricity bills across Maryland. Officials with that company say they could begin incentive programs to help consumers conserve energy as early as this fall, and the idea of "decoupling" is likely to be a major issue at the energy summit O'Malley will hold in Annapolis today.

ROCKVILLE -- All that's left of the Washington region's crippling January ice storm is a towering stack of wood chips and mound of bad feelings.The Montgomery County Council met with representatives of three power companies yesterday to find out why it took up to five days to restore electricity to more than 190,000 county homes and businesses.The council also heard about a continuing cleanup that is expected to generate enough wood chips from fallen branches and trees to cover a football field to a depth of 80 feet.

DICKERSON -- The brown brick building at the top of the rise on Mount Ephraim Road looks a bit like a bunker, built into the side of a hill as it is and surrounded by chain-link fence. That's an apt image for the business inside -- Neutron Products Inc.Neutron, which has been processing radioactive cobalt-60 for 30 years in this bucolic corner of western Montgomery County, near the base of Sugar Loaf Mountain, has been cited repeatedly for safety and procedural violations. These include inadequately training employees and improperly handling and storing radioactive waste.

Two of the state's biggest utilities participated in a nationwide drill yesterday intended to prepare computers against potential problems arising from the Year 2000.Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and the Potomac Electric Power Co. were among 200 utilities participating for the first time in a series of national exercises aimed at getting equipment ready for Y2K.The test date, April 9, was chosen because it is the 99th day of 1999, a number experts feared some computer programs might interpret as an error, because some programmers once typed in a series of 9s as placeholders.

With an eye toward coming energy deregulation, the Potomac Electric Power Co. has purchased a Maryland natural gas company.Pepco Services Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary that provides electricity to nonresidential customers, said yesterday that it bought Gaslantic Corp., a natural gas retail marketing and advisory services company in Forest Hill that had revenue of $50 million last year. The purchase price was not disclosed."We are entering an era of competition in which we will presumably not have 100 percent of the electricity market any more in our region, so then we have to look for other income-producing activities and this is an example of that," said Pepco spokeswoman Nancy Moses.

A second major utility company has filed a lawsuit against the Maryland Department of Environment challenging the state's new nitrogen oxide emission limits and triggering criticism from a local environmentalist.Potomac Electric Power Co. claims that the department exceeded its authority in adopting the regulations last month. Under those requirements, the utilities must comply by May 1, 1999, a deadline that Pepco and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. say is impossible to meet.The state adopted the standards last month as part of a 1994 agreement with other Northeastern states that aims to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions -- which contribute to ozone air pollution -- by as much as 65 percent.

Even as they face circuit court opposition to their timetable for a proposed but imperiled $3 billion merger, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and Potomac Electric Power Co. officials face another potentially devastating regulatory hurdle: The District of Columbia Public Service Commission.Unlike its Maryland counterpart, which had been expected to approve the BGE and Pepco alliance without condition, utility executives have known for nearly two years that gaining a green light from the D.C. PSC would likely be problematic -- and the agency hasn't disappointed.

A Washington labor organization yesterday appealed a Baltimore County circuit judge's ruling that Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s proposed merger with Potomac Electric Power Co. is in the public interest.Meanwhile, both BGE and Pepco asked the District of Columbia's Public Service Commission yesterday to reconsider an order that would force the pending Constellation Energy Corp. to keep half of its executives in Washington, give 75 percent of any merger savings to customers and lower a projected $1.9 billion figure that the commission claims can be saved via the merger.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. and its Washington counterpart said yesterday that their pending $3 billion merger will not proceed unless a Baltimore County Circuit judge allows a union challenge to be decided by state utility regulators.BGE and the Potomac Electric Power Co. also threatened to kill the troubled merger if state regulators don't reconsider the conditions placed on their approval of the alliance, according to court documents filed yesterday. The regulators demand the merger "provide an adequate financial basis" for shareholders.

Potomac Electric Power Co. yesterday proposed its first rate increase in four years for Maryland customers, saying it was prompted by delays in obtaining regulatory approval of its merger with Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.Customers' monthly bills would rise by about $6.60, to an average of $73.40, if the request is approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission.The request, filed with the PSC yesterday, would cover rising costs associated mainly with an $11 million-a-year purchase of power from a co-generator in Brandywine late last year, Pepco officials said.

A $1.2 billion, 150-mile power line that would cross Maryland and lay high-voltage cables under the Chesapeake Bay for the first time has been proposed to ease the threat of blackouts on the growing Delmarva Peninsula. But the proposal is generating opposition from environmentalists, landowners and even business interests in mostly rural Dorchester County, who worry that the project could disrupt farming, damage sensitive marshlands and blight the area's growing tourism. The Mid-Atlantic Power Pathway from Northern Virginia to Delaware has been proposed by Pepco Holdings Inc., the Washington-based parent company of Pepco and Delmarva Power, to upgrade the region's increasingly taxed electricity grid, which officials have warned could lead to outages or brownouts in as little as five years.

Shopping for household energy has revived in Maryland, thanks to a drop in wholesale prices, frustration about BGE's winter heating bills and worries about even higher electricity prices to come. Residential users who dump BGE's or Pepco's standard electricity package could save $20 a month this summer by buying energy instead from merchants such as Washington Gas Energy Services or a program being rolled out by several chambers of commerce. Natural gas prices have plunged, too. (I'll write more about them in Wednesday's paper.

Helen Brierley turned off her heat pump and has been air-drying her dishes. Amina Gauhar hangs her laundry on a clothes rack and even avoids the vacuum cleaner. Both have turned their thermostats way down. But despite efforts to conserve energy, their utility bills - like those of other Maryland residents - have doubled or even tripled during the past few months. As Maryland regulators and utility executives scramble to explain the sticker shock to thousands of angry customers, the Maryland Public Service Commission set up a hearing this week to address the sharp number of complaints.

Budget billing can help soften impact of energy cost swings Opening utility bills during the winter and summer can be alarming. Many consumers are finding that out right now. The fluctuations in payments can throw off any budget, especially if you owe more than expected. If you want consistency during uncertain times, consider plans that spread out heat and electricity costs into even monthly payments. Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., which serves 1.2 million business and residential electricity customers and 630,000 natural gas customers in Central Maryland, offers budget billing.

Add Maryland's energy future to Wall Street, the federal deficit, Washington politics, Detroit carmakers and everything else turned topsy-turvy by the financial crisis. Six months ago, we worried about even higher electricity prices and blackouts or brownouts as early as 2011. But the recession granted a reprieve. Not an especially welcome one, for sure. But the economic slowdown and crash in energy prices have delayed the future and offered policymakers time. The Public Service Commission just grabbed it. In a long-awaited report delivered Thursday, the agency focused on conservation as the main way to ensure that electricity resources meet electricity needs in the next few years.

The obscure calls to Randy Cover's cell phone began four months ago. Every day, sometimes three to six times a day, the 41-year-old project manager from North East would answer his cell phone only to have voices ask for people he didn't know. One caller was trying to reach her doctor's office; another asked about a job interview; some wanted to reach family or friends; and many were trying to contact businesses. "At first, I would just tell callers that they must have dialed a wrong number, and then I'd just send them on their way," Cover said.

Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that eliminating the link between power companies' profits and the amount of energy they distribute - a plan recently approved for Pepco, the Washington-area utility - could be one of the most effective strategies for reducing electricity bills across Maryland. Officials with that company say they could begin incentive programs to help consumers conserve energy as early as this fall, and the idea of "decoupling" is likely to be a major issue at the energy summit O'Malley will hold in Annapolis today.

BGE customers fretting about soaring electric rates finally have a number of choices. There are now at least five alternatives to BGE's off-the-shelf electricity product. All of them are cheaper. Here is a rundown. All rates are in kilowatt-hours and include electric-generation and transmission charges but not the 3-cent charge for distribution over BGE's wires. WASHINGTON GAS ENERGY SERVICES Rates through June 2007: 10.72 cents summer; 10.21 cents nonsummer. Estimated monthly savings: $12 summer; $3 nonsummer.

WASHINGTON -- Pepco Holdings Inc., owner of utilities in Washington and four states, sought approval yesterday to build a $1.2 billion high-voltage power line from Northern Virginia to New Jersey to meet growing demand in the largest U.S. power market. The proposal for the 230-mile, 500 kilovolt-line was filed with PJM Interconnection LLC, which runs the power market and grid in the District of Columbia and all or parts of 13 states including Virginia, Maryland and New Jersey. Pepco's proposal is the third this year for an interstate power line in PJM after enactment of a federal law aimed at speeding approval of such projects and lowering regulatory costs.

Dozens of Baltimore schools are slated to receive new heating, lighting and other energy-efficient upgrades under a deal that school officials say will pay for itself. The system will use the money it saves in energy costs to pay for the upgrades - estimated at $25 million for an initial batch of 76 schools plus administrative headquarters on North Avenue. The savings will also cover interest on a loan and $727,874 in fees paid to energy savings companies implementing the project. System officials are promoting the project as a creative way to make desperately needed repairs despite limited funding for school construction.