Rate Increase

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. plans to ask Maryland regulators later this year to allow it to raise rates for the distribution of electricity and natural gas, Chicago-based Exelon Corp., the utility's new owner, said Thursday. Exelon executives told stock analysts during a meeting in New York that BGE had delayed filing the rate case while BGE's former parent company, Constellation Energy Group, finalized a merger with Exelon. The $7.9 billion deal, which created the largest nonutility energy provider in the United States, closed in March.

A bill proposed by the Howard County executive would eliminate a two-tiered fire tax system and could garner about $1.8 million in revenue, county officials said. Howard, unlike the rest of Maryland, has two fire tax rates: one for the more densely populated eastern part of the county and another, which costs 2 cents less, for the more rural west. Some western residents say the current system is fair because they benefit less from county services. But County Executive Ken Ulman says the west receives the same fire service as the east and should pay the same rate — as western residents do for other county services, such as school and police.

From The Aegis of March 19, 1987: It was possible Harford County residents would be facing a property tax rate increase 25 years ago, but they were going to have to wait two more weeks to find out until Harford County Executive Habern Freeman released his proposed budget for the next fiscal year. Freeman, who took office in 1982, raised the tax rate his first year in office, then left it the same in the following three at $2.73 per $100 of assessed value. With two weeks to go until his budget for FY 1987-1988 was due to the Harford County Council April 1, Freeman said he was still unsure as to whether he would be seeking an increase.

Maryland's public schools are graduating a higher percentage of students than they have in the past 15 years but they have seen a troubling increase in the number of students dropping out. School officials attributed the higher dropout rate to the poor economy. More than one-third of students now qualify for subsidized or free meals in school, and principals say they see more students with jobs after school and families under increased financial stress. "Economic pressures have historically had an adverse affect on continued enrollment in high school," said Bill Reinhard, a spokesman for the Maryland State Department of Education.

Constellation Energy Group reported Friday that its fourth-quarter profit plunged and its regulated utility, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., would seek rate increases more frequently over the next several years as it invests billions of dollars in transmission, grid reliability and energy conservation projects. The Baltimore company reported that for the three-month period through December, net income fell to $159.8 million, or 79 cents per share, compared with a profit of $4.4 billion, or $21.96 per share, in the corresponding period of 2009.

Baltimore Gas and Electric residential customers will pay on average an additional $16 on electric bills and $10 on gas bills annually, under an order released by Maryland's top public utility regulators Monday. The increases will raise an estimated $30.9 million in electric distribution rates for BGE, as well as $9.75 million for gas delivery. According to the order, the new rates apply to charges incurred since Saturday. Monday was the deadline for the Maryland Public Service Commission to issue a decision on BGE's request, filed in May, to increase distribution rates — the price that customers pay to have power and gas delivered to their homes.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has made its case before state regulators to raise gas and electricity delivery rates, arguing that the utility has contained costs for years despite rising expenses to maintain service and reliability. Now the utility's customers can have their say at a series of public hearings starting Tuesday in Bel Air. Consumer advocates have opposed the rate hike and contend that BGE has been overcharging ratepayers for distribution. BGE's request would add about $22 to electricity bills and $32 to gas bills annually for the average residential customer.

Growing up, Gladys Fisher remembers that her grandmother's home was always open to other children — family or not. Taking a cue from her grandmother, Fisher and her husband, Keith, have adopted six children and fostered at least 25 others over the years. "The way I was raised taught me to open my heart to other kids," Gladys Fisher said. People like the Fishers have helped the state achieve a nearly 20 percent increase in the number of adoptions statewide over the past three years, according to the Department of Human Resources . Since 2007, approximately 8,760 children have been placed with guardians, adoptive families or reunited with their parents.

Hospitals and insurers ended months of wrangling this week by agreeing to an increase in the rate hospitals can charge patients, but a state rate-setting commission will make the final decision. The Maryland Health Services Cost Review Commission was set to vote on a rate increase Thursday but received a letter from insurance company and hospital representatives this week asking for a two-week delay. The commission, which sets the rates that hospitals statewide charge and what everyone must pay, will now vote July 7. The new rates would be retroactive to July 1. The two sides said in the letter that they were recommending a rate increase of 2.44 percent.