BALTIMORE (WBFF) — Baltimore’s latest dispute with Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) over the city’s underground conduit system is raising new questions about what customers could ultimately be asked to pay in the future. It comes at a time many Marylanders are already struggling to keep up with soaring energy costs.
BGE has warned that Baltimore City’s decision this week to end its conduit agreement and increase what the utility pays to use the system could ultimately result in additional costs for customers.
If that happens, it would be the latest in a series of increases BGE ratepayers have faced over the years.
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FOX45 broke down the numbers to see how much more the average customer is already paying — and how much higher bills could climb.
In 2023, BGE asked the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) to approve roughly $600 million in additional revenue. The utility company claimed the money was needed for infrastructure investments and maintaining the system.
State regulators ultimately approved a smaller increase of roughly $400 million, spread across a three-year span.
According to state calculations, starting in 2024, the increases were expected to add about $15 per month to the average residential customer’s combined gas and electric bill. Another increase of roughly $4 per month followed in 2025, with another approximately $3 per month scheduled for 2026.
But BGE later claimed they still spent more than they earned under the plan. So, the PSC approved an additional adjustment that added roughly $3 per month, beginning this February.
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Add those increases together, and the average gas and electric customer is now paying roughly $25 more per month — or approximately $300 more per year. And customers could soon be paying even more.
BGE is currently seeking another approximately $156 million in additional revenue. If approved by the PSC, the proposal would increase the average residential customer’s combined gas and electric bill by roughly $8 per month — or $96 per year.
Meanwhile, the utility company has yet to put a dollar amount on the potential impact the conduit changes could have on customers.
Combined with the increases that have already taken effect, that means the average customer’s annual bill could soon be roughly $400 higher than it was before 2023 just from increases in BGE’s distribution rates.
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