Democratic state legislators want to replace the five members of the Public Service Commission.
This is part of the legislators? agenda next week when they meet with their colleagues in a special session to consider a new plan to make the 72 percent rate hike starting July 1 for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. more palatable for customers ? and themselves more electable in the fall.
They claim commission members, who regulate utilities, are too closely linked to the industries they regulate.
They have a point.
E-mails from the past two years show warm ties between Chairman Kenneth Schisler, who makes $117,000 per year in his position, and industry officials. Schisler, for example, discussed a possible appointee to the commission with a Pepco lawyer. He and his staff also asked for help from utility officials to find Houston Astros tickets and seats for President Bush?s inaugural parade.
Commissioner Harold Williams, the lone representative appointed by Gov. Parris Glendening, worked for BGE for almost 20 years. And Commissioner Allen Freifeld worked for MCI Telecommunications for six years as its chief regulatory attorney for the mid-Atlantic region.
Of course, the real issue about the rate hikes has very little to do with commission members and their backgrounds and a lot to do with changes in energy prices since 1999, when legislators capped prices on electricity for six years.
But if the PSC is supposed to represent the people, it should not have even a whiff of close industry ties.
Simply changing how PSC members are appointed makes no sense. And that?s the route the legislature endorsed earlier this year. Moving the power to appoint PSC members from the governor?s office to the legislature does not necessarily improve the appropriateness nor the quality of those appointed.
A better route would be for the legislature to create a list of qualifications that all commissioners must meet, including a code of conduct that bars accepting gifts and help from industry officials. Maybe those qualifications include no ties to the utility industry. Maybe it means a gap between the time a person was employed with a BGE or Pepco and service at the commission. Smart people, with the help of legal counsel and staff, can decode the complex regulationsgoverning utilities. Working for the industry is not necessary.
Regardless, the new rules should eliminate reasons to doubt the qualifications and loyalties of future PSC members.
