Will BGE Electricity Rates Rise?
Recently, BGE filed a new rate reconciliation request. If the request passes, this would mean ratepayers would have to budget for higher electricity rates and larger energy bills. But is this rate request fair to consumers? And will it really enhance service? Let’s talk about the new BGE reconciliation rate request.
Why BGE Filed a Rate Request
The BGE rate request seeks to recover costs that exceeded last year’s state approved cap. If the request goes into effect as is, BGE customers would have to shoulder the $152 million expense. While exact numbers haven’t been reported, this would likely lead to higher distribution charges for at least a few years.
BGE offered several reasons for this this rate request: these include higher interest rates, inflation, supply chain disruptions, and the cost for grid improvements. On top of this, the utility also notes that last year’s storms caused many outages that the company had to mobilize to correct. Ordinarily, BGE doesn’t budget for storm related expenses because of how unpredictable they can be.
To be clear, both electric choice and non-shopping customers are affected. The rate increase affects the distribution charges of your energy bill. Unlike SOS rates, the BGE distribution charges covers their cost to maintain their grid so that you can get the power you need. It’s also how BGE is allowed to make a profit. For this reason, these rates rise if regulators decide that the utility under-collects.
That Other BGE Rate Request
However, critics question whether this recent request is entirely fair and appropriate. That’s important to note especially if you consider that last year saw a $602.4 million rate increase. At the time, BGE was dealing with storms that caused around 120,000 outages. The situation showed that BGE had a lot of work to do to make its grid reliable and storm-ready. And all that work costs money.
One of the biggest concerns, of course, is how these rate increases could affect lower-income families. And that is why the MD PSC has to carefully consider their response.
What Will MD PSC Do Next?
The MD PSC will determine if BGE’s costs were higher than the amount authorized for recovery from customers. If they determine that the request is fair, then they will need to calculate how much more customers will have to pay and for how long. This is important because higher rates will recoup the utility’s losses faster, but will strain low-income family budgets. For this reason, we have to wait and see what will happen next.
Until the MD PSC makes a decision, the best thing we can do is save energy where we can. Thankfully, cutting costs is as easy as shopping for cheaper energy plans or being using energy at home more efficiently. That can be as easy as better managing your thermostat as we get closer to the summer heat.
We will keep an eye out on this story as it develops and give you the latest as we learn more. You can always count on https://www.mdenergyratings.com for all the news that could affect your bills. You can also shop right here for the cheapest electricity rates in town.