Why Your BGE Bill Keeps Rising — And How Annapolis Created Maryland’s Energy Crisis

Maryland families are opening their utility bills every month and asking the same question:

Why is this getting so expensive?

The answer isn’t the weather.

It isn’t increased usage.

And it certainly isn’t accidental.

It’s policy.

For years, politicians in Annapolis have quietly layered mandates, fees, carbon programs, and market distortions onto Maryland’s energy system. Every one of those decisions now shows up on your BGE bill.

Let’s be honest about what Marylanders are paying for.

First, there’s supply and transmission - the cost of generating electricity and moving it across the PJM regional grid. Because state policies forced reliable power plants to close and shrink in-state generation, Maryland now imports more expensive electricity from outside the state. Less supply means higher prices. That’s basic economics.

Next comes delivery - the poles, wires, substations, transformers and grid maintenance. Delivery rates have nearly doubled over the past decade as infrastructure upgrades and regulatory compliance costs are passed directly to ratepayers.

Then there’s EmPOWER Maryland - a state-mandated surcharge buried in every bill. Whether you use the programs or not, you pay. It functions as a hidden energy tax. Even more concerning, extreme environmental activists now want to use this program to target and eliminate affordable, reliable natural gas — the backbone of Maryland’s electric reliability.

Add to that RGGI - the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. Maryland participates in this multistate carbon credit scheme that forces power plants to buy emissions allowances. Those costs are not absorbed by utilities. They are passed directly to consumers. RGGI is a carbon tax by another name, costing Maryland families and businesses between $300 and $400 million every year.

And it gets worse.

Last year, the governor diverted more than $300 million from the RGGI fund to help balance the state budget, and he plans to do it again. That means Annapolis is now using energy bills as a backdoor revenue stream to prop up state spending.

Once again, Maryland families are being asked to carry the burden.

Meanwhile, fixed monthly charges keep climbing. Even if you reduce usage, the fees keep coming. A growing share of your bill has nothing to do with energy consumption and everything to do with political decisions.

The results are undeniable.

Since 2010, gas delivery rates have more than tripled.

Electric delivery rates have nearly doubled.

Wholesale supply prices are rising as in-state generation disappears.

And that brings us to the policy disaster at the center of this crisis.

The Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022 imposed aggressive renewable mandates, electrification requirements, and unrealistic emissions targets. The consequences were predictable: forced retirement of reliable baseload power, reduced supply, greater dependence on imports, rising wholesale prices, and growing reliability risks.

Then, in 2024, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 1, eliminating retail energy choice and consolidating control back into monopoly utility structures. Less competition means fewer options, less innovation, weaker price pressure, and higher costs for consumers.

On top of that, Maryland has shut down major power plants since 2018, including Crane, Dickerson, Chalk Point, Luke Mill, Morgantown coal units, and Warrior Run. Thousands of megawatts of reliable power have been wiped off the grid. Some remaining plants were only spared temporarily at enormous cost to ratepayers.

This is not a market failure.

It is a policy failure.

Maryland chose to tax electricity.

Mandate expensive compliance schemes.

Eliminate consumer choice.

Force generation offline.

Expand infrastructure costs without protecting ratepayers.

Families aren’t just paying for electricity anymore. They’re paying for political ideology, regulatory bureaucracy, carbon programs and poor long-term planning.

Energy affordability is now a cost-of-living crisis.

That’s why this legislative session, I am introducing bills to roll back the Climate Solutions Now Act, remove Maryland from RGGI, repeal Senate Bill 1 to restore energy choice and pause or eliminate the EmPOWER surcharge.

These are not radical proposals. They are common-sense corrections.

We cannot regulate our way to affordable power.

We cannot mandate our way to reliability.

And we cannot keep using Maryland families as the funding source for failed energy experiments.

It’s time to put affordability first.

It’s time to put reliability first.

And it’s time to put Marylanders first.