When electricity rates last rose, Baltimore seventh-graders hadn?t been born.
Any of your other bills or expenses go up since then?
Tuition?
Starbucks latte?
Property taxes?
A pair of jeans?
If electricity prices at Baltimore Gas and Electric had risen 3.5 percent per year since 1993 ? the pace that would lead to a 72 percent hike July 1, we doubt any of the furor over the rate hike would exist. We start with 1993 because when legislators voted to “deregulate” electric utilities in 1999, they capped prices at 6.5 percent below 1993 levels.
Besides, Maryland electricity rates ? after the hike ? will mirror rates in other states in the region and be lower than those in the Northeast.
The average monthly bill for Connecticut Light and Power customers will be 27 percent higher than for BGE customers after July 1. For Con Edison customers in New York, bills will be 68 percent higher.
So that?s why it is hard to understand Circuit Judge Albert J. Matricciani Jr.?s order to the Public Service Commission on Tuesday that it consider whether the rate hike is justified.
Matricciani, responding to a city lawsuit, said the PSC failed to review all the facts related to the rate hike, including the effects of BGE parent company Constellation Energy?s proposed merger with FPL Group, when it adopted its plan in March.
We don?t understand why the government should be allowed any say over what rates should be in a supposedly deregulated market.
And delaying the rate increase will also deter competition from moving into the state, the best way to lower prices.
How many more times can the state harass its top taxpayer and one of the city?s largest philanthropic givers before it decides to relocate to a state with a friendlier business climate?
The CEO of Constellation, Mayo Shattuck III, said Tuesday that there is no business reason for Constellation to remain in Baltimore. He did not say that the company has hired movers, but then, neither did the Colts.
