MARYLAND (WBFF) — Lawmakers in the Senate Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee heard numerous energy-related bill Thursday.
Those bills were related to data centers, transmission lines, expanding solar energy, doing on a deep dive on energy costs, modifying energy mandates for older buildings, studying the future of Maryland’s involvement in the PJM region, and withdrawing from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle proposed various solutions to try and lower energy costs for consumers.
“We have an obligation to really make sure we know full cost and the benefits to our rate payers before we start, you know, continue to spend billions of dollars on on these projects,” Senator Mary Beth Carozza said in related to her bill about understanding energy costs.
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Senator Shelly Hettleman proposed a bill that would study the possibility of withdrawing from the PJM region. This as lawmakers have voiced frustration with capacity auction prices, which have led to a sharp rise in energy prices, as well PJM’s timeline for getting new projects built and connected to the grid.
“This bill does not presume that Maryland will, or even should, withdraw from PJM. Rather, it recognizes that we need rigorous, fact based analysis of our of our options,” Hettleman said.
Senate Minority Leader Stephen Hershey proposed a bill to withdraw from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative.
“This bill is about one core principle, Marylanders should not be forced to pay a state imposed Carbon Tax embedded in their electricity rates, especially when family budgets are already stretched and grid reliability is deteriorating,” Hershey said.
It is a cap-and-trade program designed to reduce emissions from power plants. However, some lawmakers have argued that costs associated with the program have led some power generators to leave the state. However, supporters of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative argue it has been successful in reducing emissions. Others have argued the RGGI is not the reason for rising energy bills.
“While this may reduce in state emissions on paper, giving the environmental activists something to applaud, actual emissions is simply moved elsewhere,” Hershey said.
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Hershey, along with other Republicans also argue that funds from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, that have gone into the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, have been used to balance the state budget.
“This bill is about one core principle, Marylanders should not be forced to pay a state imposed Carbon Tax embedded in their electricity rates, especially when family budgets are already stretched and grid reliability is deteriorating,” he added.
However, according to the fiscal note, “the Public Service Commission notes that the bill may reduce the cost to operate some power plants in the State, potentially reducing energy prices; however, the commission indicates that whether such a reduction occurs under the bill, and the extent of any reduction, is unknown.”
“An evaluation of the bill’s effect on energy costs for Maryland consumers should also take into account the loss of the use of RGGI revenues for energy bill assistance for low-income Maryland residents and programs that fund efforts to reduce residents’ energy consumption (and lower their energy bills as a result),” the fiscal note continued to say.
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