Maryland Senate energy bill gives rebates to utility customers hit with high costs

Hannah Gaskill, The Baltimore Sun on Mar 28, 2025

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BALTIMORE — Maryland state senators have amended an energy bill to ease the burden on ratepayers struggling with pricey utility bills during the hottest and coldest months of the year.

The Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Committee amended the Next Generation Energy Act to provide utility bill rebate payments based on usage by residential electrical customers during peak months. Average payments are anticipated to be around $42, which will be applied directly to utility bills. Customers will be able to see the reduction as a line item on their bills during one of the peak months in the summer and winter.

“These will be immediate relief for ratepayers, who we know are feeling it harder than ever,” Senate President Bill Ferguson said at an Annapolis news conference Friday.

The relief will be provided through the Maryland Strategic Energy Investment Fund. The bill, sponsored by Ferguson and House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones, both Democrats, allocates $200 million from the fund to be split between the summer and winter months.

Senate Education, Energy and the Environment Vice Chair Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat, expressed frustration Friday that the measure is based on usage rather than income. She said she would prefer to have lower income customers provided more money, noting that $200 million is a lot given away “with no litmus test” when the state is facing “tough times” fiscally.

“My concern is that someone with a mega mansion is going to get a whole lot of money, and someone who’s trying to pinch their pennies will get a paltry amount but have a greater need,” Kagan said.

Utility companies do not have access to enough customer data to be able to dole the funds out based on income.

Republicans said they don’t think the policy will move the needle on high utility bills.

“This ‘legislative rate relief’ proposal is not a rebate or relief, it is a return of over-payments made by Marylanders,” Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey said in a statement. “Ratepayers have been forced to underwrite the Democratic policies that have driven their rates up by requiring utility companies to purchase … more expensive power.”

If passed, the bill would only allow utility companies to file multi-year rate plans if the Public Service Commission determines they benefit ratepayers. If utility companies overspend on materials and labor, they could not return to the commission to raise rates until the contract is up, potentially saving millions of dollars for Baltimore Gas and Electric customers.

That portion of the bill would go into effect immediately.

The legislation is one of three multi-faceted bills that intend to reduce Maryland’s reliance on the 13-state energy grid by investigating new, cleaner energy generation mechanisms.

“This energy package gives Marylanders more control in the short term, in the midterm and in the long term to lower utility bills and address the threat of climate change at the same time,” Ferguson said.

The bill package is expected to be debated on the Senate floor Monday.

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