Holding a bright-yellow banner, a small group gathered near Baltimore City Mayor Sheila Dixon?s house singing a song to the tune of “The Twelve Days of Christmas.”
But instead of turtledoves and golden rings, the carolers sang about cutoff notices and high utility bills.
And the Grinch depicted in their banner, said the protesters, is Baltimore Gas & Electric Co.
“We came out of our homes on Christmas to say we are still here, and we are not going away,” said Maria Allwine, a member of the Maryland Coalition to Stop the BGE Rate Hike.
Allwine and a half-dozen protesters paced the sidewalk in front of Dixon?s house and stood at the corner of Route 40, holding signs and singing as passing drivers honked and waved. The group was rallying for Dixon, who was not home Christmas morning, to take action to reduce the utility rates.
“We want her to make this a central issue in her administration,” said Allwine, who ran for Baltimore City Council president.
Specifically, the group called for Dixon to study the feasibility of a municipally owned utility company. Instead, according to the coalition, the $150,000 intended for that study is being used to examine aggregation, which combines purchasing power for lower
rates.
“We?d like to see her insist they look at a public takeover of BGE lines,” said Chris Bush, a member of the coalition and Catonsville resident.
Baltimore City and several local jurisdictions are involved in a municipal aggregation program for the energy the governments use, and city officials want to see if that same process can be extended to residential use, said Dixon spokesman Sterling Clifford.
For now, Clifford said, an aggregation program is the “most promising” option for reducing residential utility rates.
Average utility rates soared 72 percent last year when the rate caps expired and service deregulated, and BGE will seek another increase next month, protesters said.
Baltimore City resident and coalition member Sandra Stephenson has seen her utility bills skyrocket from around $50 to $200 a month, she said.
“A lot of people are suffering,” she said.
