The Public Service Commission’s legal woes are multiplying: A lawsuit filed by the Maryland Public Interest Research Group asks a judge to disqualify the commissioners who voted for the 72 percent energy rate hike from any additional hearings.
The suit, filed in response to a meeting of four commissioners with Gov. Robert Ehrlich’s chief of staff, Chip DiPaula, during the governor’s negotiations with Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., is scheduled to be heard by Baltimore Circuit Judge Albert Matricciani, who recently granted Baltimore City “judicial review” of the PSC’s plan to have consumers pay interest on any delay in the rate increases.
MaryPIRG spokeswoman Elizabeth Ridlington said the lawsuit will ensure that the PSC acted fairly when approving the BGE rate increase. “We believe transparency in governance is important.” Ridlington said. “Particularly on this issue, it is very important.”
The suit charges that the March 14 meeting with DiPaula, attended by Chairman Kenneth Schisler and Commissioners Allen Freidfeld, Karen Smith and Charles Boutin, violated the Maryland Open Meetings Act, a charge that was confirmed by the state’s Open Meetings and Compliance Board.
The suit asks that all minutes and notes from the meeting be made available to the public and that the court declare “void” any action “discussed at the meeting.”
Ridlington said the suit, if successful, will force the PSC to make its decisions in the “public eye.”
“Government works best when it’s out in the open,” she said.
