Regulators

The woman who says she represents North American Power is not telling the truth about the benefits of buying electricity from her company. "You can save up to 10, 15, 20 percent of your bill, depending on your usage," she says in a telemarketing call to my house. But the rate she eventually quotes is only about 7 percent less than the standard price offered by Baltimore Gas & Electric — something the average customer would have no way of knowing. And of course the percentage savings won't vary even if my "usage" goes up to that of a steel mill.

Utility customers who oppose smart meters can defer installation of the new digital, wireless devices until state energy regulators make a final decision on whether ratepayers can opt out of the utility program, the Maryland Public Service Commission said Thursday. The interim decision comes two days after the Public Service Commission heard from dozens of customers who oppose smart meters because of concerns over safety, privacy and security. The state's three largest utilities — Baltimore Gas and Electric, Pepco and Delmarva — are in varying stages of replacing older meters with smart meters, which are intended to provide real-time data and help ratepayers monitor and control energy consumption.

The big win for consumers in the Wall Street reform that cleared Congress last week is the creation of a consumer protection agency designed to look out only for them. Federal regulators have had the dual duties for years of protecting consumers in money matters and ensuring the safety and soundness of the nation's financial institutions. But when it came down between the two, consumer protection often took a back seat. "They used to say you were more protected from sausages than mortgages at the federal level," says Terry Connelly, dean of Golden Gate University's business school.

Prepaid debit cards have been called the Wild West because of their rapid growth, uncontrollable fees and little regulation. That soon may change - or at least the regulation part. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is taking its first step toward adding customer protections on the cards by requesting public input on how to make fees and terms transparent while also ensuring that consumers' money is safe on the plastic. So-called general purpose reloadable cards have been rapidly growing, and much of that comes from consumers using prepaid cards as an alternative to a traditional checking account, the CFPB says.

Weeks before federal trucking regulators ordered Gunthers Transport LLC off the road for being an "imminent hazard" to the public, the owner's son filed the paperwork to create a new entity: Clock Transport LLC. The new trucking company, which shares the Hanover address of Gunthers Transport, was cited for a safety violation last month. One of its trucks failed an inspection in Ohio, which sidelined the vehicle and driver until the problems were fixed. Maryland State Police said Monday that their troopers have been ordered to pull over and inspect trucks bearing either name.

Cecil Bancorp Inc. and its subsidiary, Cecil Bank, have reached an agreement with state and federal regulators to take steps to ensure financial soundness. The agreement with the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation sets up a timeline for the bank and its parent to come up with a series of written plans for maintaining sufficient capital, improving earnings, beefing up board oversight, and other steps. The bank also agreed not to extend further credit, without approval by the board, to borrowers whose loans were criticized by regulators last year.

Some banks soon will find it more difficult to slap consumers with overdraft fees — a boon to customers who discover that one misstep can lead to a cascade of penalties. Guidelines that take effect next month will prohibit thousands of small banks from processing transactions in order of the highest dollar amount to lowest — a practice that empties customer accounts faster and triggers more overdrafts. Similar guidelines could be in store for the big players, too. And one major bank, Citibank, announced recently that it would no longer process paper checks from high to low — a move that could encourage competitors to follow suit.

First Mariner Bancorp Chairman and CEO Edwin F. Hale Sr. said Friday that the company is continuing to try to raise capital and to work with regulators who have put the largest Baltimore-based bank under heightened scrutiny for two years. Hale was responding to an auditor's letter that casts doubt about the bank holding company's ability to remain in business. The letter was included with financial statements filed Thursday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. A prominent businessman who founded First Mariner, Hale said the auditor's "going concern" warning had long been expected.

Maryland regulators, after receiving a slew of consumer questions in the wake of a major debt collector's collapse, have sent letters to every collection agency operating in the state to try to connect anxious debtors with the companies they owe. Rockville-based Mann Bracken, which abruptly shut its doors after the recent bankruptcy of a spinoff company that handled its nonlegal work, used to collect payments from consumers on behalf of firms that...

Constellation Energy Group filed an application Wednesday with Maryland energy regulators to seek approval of its sale to Chicago-based Exelon Corp. In a 572-page application, Constellation and Exelon make their case for the $7.9 billion deal, which would create the largest competitive power supplier in the United States. The combined company would have headquarters in Chicago, but officials say the new entity would have a significant presence in Baltimore. The two companies have offered a $250 million incentive package, which includes a $100 credit for each customer of Constellation's regulated utility, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. The Maryland Public Service Commission is expected to hold hearings to examine the deal; it has 180 days under state law to make a decision.

Smart meter opponents asked state regulators at a hearing Tuesday to allow ratepayers to say "no" to new digital, wireless devices because of safety, privacy and security concerns. The Maryland Public Service Commission is considering whether utilities should permit customers to reject smart meters and keep their existing devices. The state's three largest utilities — Baltimore Gas and Electric, Pepco and Delmarva — are replacing millions of old electric and gas meters with new devices providing real-time data to consumers and utilities.

Jonathan Libber likes his analog utility meter just fine. And no amount of debate will convince him that new wireless, digital "smart meters" being installed by Baltimore Gas & Electric and other utilities around the country would help conserve energy, reduce his bill and make service more reliable. "They are a bad idea," said Libber, 59, president of Maryland Smart Meter Awareness, a citizens group opposed to smart meters. "There has been no demonstrated savings for the regulated ratepayer.

Mention valet parking in Little Italy to Justin Duvall, and he'll rattle off stories of valet drivers clogging traffic, parking cars in residential spots and blocking off public spaces with cones. "I've moved cones before," said Duvall, 29, a lifelong resident of the neighborhood. "If it's not their spot, if the street signs don't say 'No parking,' it's fair game. " In Little Italy, Fells Point and other city neighborhoods where restaurants and clubs commingle with houses and apartments, complaints about valet parking companies have grown common.

The Town of Bel Air, and any other local government with zoning laws on the books, can regulate through those laws where apartment buildings, townhouses, single family houses and assisted care facilities go. Similarly, they can regulate where medical facilities such as doctors offices, professional centers and hospitals are built. Zoning laws were designed to protect land owners from being unreasonably burdened by potentially obnoxious uses of the land on neighboring properties.

Regulators nationwide are pushing life insurers to do a better job of tracking when policyholders die and locating the beneficiaries — an effort that could reap billions of dollars for consumers. Insurers regularly monitor Social Security's Death Master File to verify the death of a customer receiving annuity payments so they can cut off checks. But an ongoing, multistate investigation has found that life insurers haven't been using this information to identify policyholders who died and to pay beneficiaries.

State banking regulators closed two Maryland banks Friday, the first two bank failures in the state since 2010. The Maryland Commissioner of Financial Regulation shut down the Bank of the Eastern Shore in Cambridge and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation as receiver. The FDIC created the Deposit Insurance National Bank of Eastern Shore to allow customers to access their deposits until May 25. The state financial commissioner also closed HarVest Bank of Maryland in Gaithersburg, whose deposits and other assets were acquired by Sonabank in McLean, Va. HarVest's four branches will reopen during normal business hours as Sonabank's branches.

MINNEAPOLIS -- A group of state regulators and a top industry watchdog are backing a new rule that would provide uniform protection to people who buy annuities. The NASD, a self-regulating organization that oversees broker-dealers, along with insurance commissioners from Minnesota, North Dakota and Iowa issued a joint statement yesterday calling for states to make sure that insurance companies sell only suitable annuities to their customers. Under the current system, state insurance commissioners oversee insurance agents while the NASD supervises licensed broker-dealers.

WASHINGTON -- Federal regulators are immune to damage lawsuits when they intervene in the day-to-day management of a regulated thrift institution, even if their actions push the firm deeper into financial trouble, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously yesterday.The ruling ended the threat of a multimillion lawsuit against a group of thrift regulators who made many of the operating decisions for a troubled Dallas savings and loan association before that S&L was ordered into formal receivership by the government.

Federal securities regulators allege an executive at Eastern Savings Bank in Hunt Valley participated in a fraudulent short-selling scheme involving his personal brokerage firm, according to a complaint filed Monday. In an administrative case, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said that Chicago-based optionsXpress, four of the firm's officials and Jonathan I. Feldman, a senior vice president at Eastern Savings, violated SEC rules by engaging in a plan to profit off a series of "sham" transactions designed to give the impression that the firm had bought certain securities.

Maryland energy regulators have ordered Exelon Corp. to explain how the company "inadvertently" violated some conditions related to its merger with Baltimore's Constellation Energy Group. As part of Maryland Public Service Commission's approval for the deal, the companies agreed to several conditions, including selling Constellation's three coal-fired plants in Maryland to mitigate concerns over market concentration in the mid-Atlantic electricity grid. Until the plants could be sold, the companies agreed to sell power from those facilities as well as others in the region's wholesale energy market at a price it costs to operate the plants, said Exelon spokeswoman Judith Rader.