BGE Announces Planned Rate Hikes, Infrastructure Upgrades In 2024

Correction: The requested rate increase would affect customers' monthly bills. The rate increase averages ~5% annually, amounting to an additional ~$31.08 per monthly bill after three years. 

This article previously stated that BGE's rate increase would total to $10.36 annually. 

BALTIMORE COUNTY - Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.’s new multi-year plan filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission on Friday includes billions of dollars in infrastructure spending and potential rate hikes.

The plan covers 2024-2026 and would take effect on January 1, 2024. Filing a multi-year plan is the first step in a long process, including pubic reviews and commission approval.

Under the plan, BGE would raise customers’ delivery rates by ~5% annually, amounting to an additional ~$31.08 per monthly bill after three years.

According to BGE, “ With this increase, the average residential customer’s total BGE bill growth rate since 2008 would be 1.4% per year, which is significantly below the rate of inflation.”

The proposed rate increase would allow the utility to invest almost $2.3 billion annually between 2024 and 2026 to improve network reliability and safety. The company said another $40 million would be allocated to programs and incentives to promote electric vehicle use and building efficiency.

Carim Khouzami, BGE’s President and CEO, says the investments are necessary to combat the increased strain on electrical infrastructure caused by cyber intrusions and climate change.

“Our customers, whether they are residential, small businesses, or industrial, are becoming more reliant on safe and reliable energy to power their lives and livelihoods. At the same time, we are facing more and varied threats to the resiliency of our infrastructure, including cyber intrusions and more frequent severe weather brought by climate change,” Khouzami said. “The energy infrastructure investments we make now will ensure we can continue to meet our customers’ needs and begin to lay the foundation for the State of Maryland to reach its goal of net zero emissions by 2045. We have designed our plan to meet these challenges while delivering the greatest impact possible to central Maryland through steady work for our suppliers and contractors and our continued community impact efforts.”

BGE’s energy infrastructure plan includes more than 300 projects and maintenance programs for the period 2024-2026. The utility highlighted four specific initiatives aimed at improving grid resiliency.

• Enhancing energy infrastructure supporting the reliability needs of customers throughout central Maryland and the growth of important economic development sites.

• Installing smart automation equipment to identify and circumvent damage to the electric grid and reduce the frequency and duration of power outages faster for our customers.

• Replacing outmoded technologies, such as limited capacity 4kV electric systems to improve reliability, enable greater adoption of solar energy and electric vehicle charging and increased capacity in areas where redevelopment adds additional customer demand.

• Preparing the grid for extreme weather and threat-actor actions with continued tree trimming and vegetation management and cyber security enhancements to improve resiliency against manmade and natural threats to mitigate risk to our customers.
• Replacing more natural gas pipeline segments and installing over-pressurization protection equipment to improve safety and reliability for our customers while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by more than 210,000 metric tons annually.