An energy expert told the Maryland Public Service Commission that if the state had not deregulated the industry back in 1999, consumers might have faced only a 19.2 percent increase in utility rates, as opposed to the 72 percent Baltimore Gas and Electric?s 1.2 million customers are facing now.

Steven Estomin, a principal of Exeter Associates, testified before the PSC that he has studied rate increases in states that did not undergo restructuring like Maryland did in 1999. He told the panel that in those states, consumers have only experienced a 19.2 percent rise in electric rates since Maryland?s deregulation, not the 72 percent Maryland consumers will be paying.

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