The Direct Message
Tension: BGE says a $156 million increase and a higher guaranteed return are the minimum needed to keep the grid safe, while roughly 290,000 of its customers are already behind on bills and rates have risen at twice the pace of inflation since 2010.
Noise: The easy frames are a corporate villain squeezing families or activists blocking necessary grid investment. Both flatten a rate case that turns on specific technical questions about return on equity, storm-cost recovery, and shutoff protections.
Direct Message: The commission has said the burden of proof sits on BGE, and the numbers that will decide the case are the return on equity, the storm-cost rider, and the FlexPay shutoff terms — not the $8 headline.
Every DMNews article follows The Direct Message methodology.
Baltimore Gas and Electric is asking Maryland regulators to sign off on a $156 million electric rate increase that would add roughly $8 to the average monthly bill and lift the company’s guaranteed profit margin from 9.5% to 10.4%. The request, filed with the Public Service Commission in July, will not get a final decision until early 2027.
The utility says the money covers the bare minimum needed to keep the electric system running for its Maryland customers. Consumer advocates, the Baltimore City Council president, environmental groups, and healthcare workers’ unions are asking the commission to reject it.
The backdrop is not subtle. As of March 2026, roughly 290,000 BGE customers were behind on their bills, according to reporting on the Baltimore rally against the request.
What BGE actually filed, and what it would cost
The $156 million figure is the total revenue increase BGE is seeking from Maryland electric ratepayers. The company translates that into roughly $8 more per month for a typical customer, though the final per-bill number depends on usage class and what the commission ultimately approves.
The more contested number is the return on equity. BGE wants 10.4%. The commission’s current approved return is 9.5%. Return on equity is essentially the guaranteed profit margin a regulated monopoly earns on capital investments, and every tenth of a percent compounds across a billion-dollar rate base.
BGE says the increase funds storm restoration, grid maintenance, and infrastructure work needed to reduce outages. BGE spokesman Nick Alexopulos defended the rate increase to CBS Baltimore, saying the company is focused on affordability while making necessary infrastructure investments.
The affordability picture in Maryland
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, which represents ratepayers before the commission, has tracked significant rate increases over time.
Household arrears tell the same story from the other end. Maryland households were on average $735 behind on utility bills as of March, up 19% from a year earlier, according to a Baltimore Sun guest commentary tracking the case. BGE was scheduled to resume shutoffs for unpaid balances in July but paused the plan during a heat wave.
Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen strongly criticized BGE at the August 12 rally outside the utility’s headquarters, noting that electric delivery rates have roughly doubled between 2010 and 2025.
Emily Scarr, senior adviser at Maryland PIRG, framed the ask more directly: after years of rate hikes and record profits, she argued, the commission should reject the request and lower the guaranteed return itself.
What the commission is weighing
The burden of proof sits on BGE to show the increase is justified. The commission has laid out a schedule pointing toward evidentiary hearings in November and a final decision by the end of January 2027.
Two technical questions are likely to define the case.
The first is the return on equity itself. BGE argues 10.4% is what it needs to attract investors on terms comparable to other regulated utilities. If the return runs too low, the company says, capital costs rise and customers pay for that too. The Office of People’s Counsel has argued that the requested return is significantly higher than broader market expectations.
The second question is a proposed storm-cost rider. BGE wants to build a historical storm-cost average into rates automatically each year, rather than seeking reimbursement after the fact. Advocates argue this looks a lot like a forecast test year. BGE says the rider is symmetrical: if storms cost less than expected, rates would fall in the following year.
The politics around the filing
Utility costs have moved to the center of Maryland’s political debate. Lawmakers passed legislation this year aimed at lowering customer bills through changes to utility rules and cuts to an energy-efficiency program funded through bills.
Statewide polling suggests the issue has traction. Voters ranked utility costs, the economy, and taxes as their top concerns in a survey WBAL cited alongside the rate-hike coverage.
The regulatory pattern here — a monopoly utility seeking guaranteed returns while local officials and advocacy groups press a commission to say no — is showing up in more places than Maryland.
What happens next for BGE customers
Nothing changes on bills immediately. The commission’s schedule points to evidentiary hearings in November 2026 and an order expected by the end of January 2027. Public input hearings are running in the meantime, and the OPC will file testimony on the requested return and the storm rider.
Advocates including Maryland PIRG, SEIU 1199, and the Baltimore City Council president are asking the commission to reject the $156 million increase outright and to reduce the current 9.5% return on equity. BGE argues the filing is the minimum needed to fund storm restoration and grid work, and that a lower return would raise capital costs that eventually reach the same ratepayers.
The commission’s own frame is the one worth holding onto. The company is asking. The burden of proof is on the company. Everything between now and January 2027 is about whether that proof holds up.
