ANNAPOLIS — Extreme cold weather is pushing utility bills higher across Maryland, and Annapolis lawmakers say they're hearing about it constantly from frustrated constituents.
"It is the number one issue that I hear about, people are so frustrated with their utility and the cost of energy right now," Senate President Bill Ferguson said.
A bill proposed by Governor Wes Moore aims to enhance energy transmission, backfill clean energy subsidies and give people more rebates on their bills. The governor believes it can get rates lower quickly.
Republicans push back on Governor Moore's Energy bill
"Well I think this state has seen that this has been an issue that we have been talking about since my administration came on board," Moore said.
Republicans are slamming the governor's plan, saying it fails to address both short-term and long-term energy challenges.
"Unfortunately, it does neither to solve any type of short term or long term solutions with regards to the energy crisis here in Maryland," Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey said.
Hershey and his party have been pushing for more energy generation in the state. The only money in this bill to bring about more generation is backfilling cuts the Trump administration made to clean energy subsidies.
"Maryland doesn't have enough in-state generation in the state, so we're relying very heavily on states like Pennsylvania to generate electricity using thermal sources and then and then transmitting that energy back to Maryland, and that's becoming (the) most expensive proposition that's out there," Hershey said.
The governor also plans to pull money out of the Strategic Energy Investment Fund, an account energy companies pay into when they don't use clean energy to generate power.
"The governor is looking at giving $100 million back to ratepayers the same way that the legislature did last year with $200 million," said Hershey.
"This is over payment by the customers already; he's giving a portion of it back. We had an amendment on the floor last year that would give all of it back and of course the Democrats rejected that amendment, so they're not concerned with ratepayers." Hershey said.
Baltimore Gas and Electric is reviewing the legislation to see how it would impact the company.
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
