By Tashi McQueen
AFRO Staff Writer
tmcqueen@afro.com
The Baltimore City Council, led by Council President Zeke Cohen (D), announced a series of investigative hearings at Baltimore City Hall to address Baltimore Gas and Electric’s (BGE) rate increases.
Cohen said the first hearing will take place on Feb. 20.
“According to Maryland’s Office of People’s Council, between 2010 and 2025, BGE rates have increased nearly three times the rate of inflation over the last decade,” said Cohen. “This last year has been catastrophic.”
One restaurant owner said his bill nearly doubled this past January.
“Just about a year ago, my average BGE bill for Marta Fine Food and Spirits, which is a small restaurant, was about $2,500,” said Matthew Oetting, chef and owner of Marta Fine Food and Spirits. “I opened my bill for January this past month, and it has reached over $4,000.”
Oetting said he has to deal with trying “to figure out how we keep the lights on without passing costs onto our customers. That’s something that I don’t want [to do].”
BGE has previously highlighted that the price of natural gas was 30 percent higher in January 2025 than in January 2024.
Lifelong Baltimore resident Nicole Rogers said she once had to pay “$5,000, that I didn’t have,” or BGE would “turn my electricity off.”
“I get disability, that’s the only income I receive. I rely on a walker to get around,” said Rogers. “If this could happen to me, it’s probably happening to lots of other people in Baltimore and in my situation.”
Councilman “Yitzy” Schleifer (D-District 5) will be heading the hearings in the Legislative Investigations Committee.
“We’ve all heard that you get what you pay for, but that couldn’t be further from the truth with BGE,” claimed Schleifer. “We pay through the roof and we get projects that take way longer than expected. To this end, the Legislative Investigations Committee that I chair intends to hold public hearings on this topic and request full cooperation from BGE.”
BGE responded to the council’s announcement stating that they have “been actively engaging with the Baltimore City Council, including Council President Cohen and Councilman Schleifer, to address key issues affecting Baltimore City residents and BGE customers.”
“We welcome the opportunity to continue making progress, whether through hearings or the various meetings and open houses we have scheduled for our customers in the city,” said Nick Alexopulos, senior manager of communications for BGE. “These efforts are crucial as we focus on practical actions that support our customers.”
Recently, BGE has taken additional steps to assist customers, such as waiving late payment fees for January and February 2025, postponing disconnections caused by nonpayment in February 2025 and streamlining their process to get customers who were disconnected back in service more quickly.
“We also need to be having this conversation with the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC),” said Cohen. “They are ultimately who are tasked with regulating the utility.”
PSC responded to this announcement saying, “The commission appreciates the council’s concerns and recognizes that increases to rates affect the financial ability of Maryland ratepayers to keep up with their gas and electricity expenses.”
“The commission’s duty is to ensure that rates, terms and conditions established for public service companies are just, reasonable and transparent,” said Tori Leonard, communications director for PSC. “Within the economic factors that affect all businesses, including regulated utilities, the PSC strives to approve prudently incurred expenses and reasonable rates of returns for the utility to provide safe and reliable service.”
Leonard said PSC is willing to speak with members of the council on this matter.
“The reconciliation for BGE’s first multi-year rate case is an active, open proceeding awaiting a decision by the commission,” she said. “There may be limits to what we can comment on in that case as a result, but we welcome discussions with council members.”
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