The long-term solution to rising energy costs will be to change consumer habits, according to regulators and lawmakers who attended a briefing on state energy regulation Tuesday in Annapolis.
“We want to give the Public Service Commission and the People?s Counsel as many tools as possible to deal with market forces,” said Del. Dereck Davis, D-Prince George?s, who chairs the committee handling energy regulation bills. “But I think some people expect us to turn back the clock.”
The House Economic Matters Committee briefly waded into the issue of electricity regulation at a briefing, but Davis said ratepayers would likely see little in terms of new plans to hold down or reduce electric rates.
Instead, he said the committee will likely turn its attention to longer-term issues such as alternative energy sources or expanding BGE?s pilot smart metering program
designed to more accurately measure customers? energy consumption.
William Fields, senior assistant to the People?s Counsel, explained to lawmakers the economics of purchasing and providing energy to customers. He cautioned that decreases in the wholesale price of energy wouldn?t translate to huge declines in the bills received by customers.
“Even if the bids come in 10 percent lower than last year, the bottom line of the bill that customers receive will be about 40 percent higher than last year,” Fields said.
In an effort to encourage more competition in the energy market and provide consumers with more choice, Del. James Hubbard, D-Prince George?s, and Del. Brian Frosh, D-Montgomery, have both introduced bills to allow counties and cities to purchase and sell electricity to residents.
