BALTIMORE, Md. — Call it a politician's Christmas in July.
Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen looked like Santa in a business suit, as he marched to the offices of Baltimore Gas and Electric and the Maryland Public Service Commission on Thursday.
This bag wasn't filled with presents, but rather, petitions signed by 7,221 Baltimoreans who say they can't afford another rate hike.
"You do not typically see this many state city elected officials standing together. You do not always see religious leaders, faith leaders, consumer advocates, the labor leaders. You don't always see Baltimore standing together like this, but this is the defining issue," Cohen said at a news conference outside BGE's office in downtown Baltimore.
Cohen and the coalition of officials and leaders that joined him on Thursday are calling for a pause on BGE's Operation Pipeline program - a plan to upgrade hundreds of miles of aging natural gas pipes and equipment across Maryland. These upgrades would be paid for, at least in part, by BGE's multi-year rate plan. Council President Cohen also wants the Public Service Commission to put an end to that.
“BGE has fought for multi-year rate cases for one reason - they drive profit,” Cohen said. “It's the same reason they insist on replacing all of our gas pipelines. The more they replace, the more you pay, and the more they profit.”
WATCH: City Council President Zeke Cohen faces off against BGE in debate over multi-year rate plan
“The decisions being made by BGE and the PSC feel increasingly disconnected from the reality communities face,” Courtney Jenkins, president of the Metro Baltimore AFL-CIO, said at the news conference. “Too often they operate like an oligarchy, closed off, unaccountable, and insulated from the consequences their decisions create. But the pain is real. People are making impossible choices between medical care and keeping the lights on. That is not the Baltimore we want or the Baltimore we deserve.”
The multi-year plans came into play in Maryland as part of a pilot program that ran from 2021 to 2023. When the pilot ended in 2023, the PSC approved BGE's multi-year plan for the next three years. BGE says a multi-year plan provides consumers with predictability, as the utility must lay out in advance how it plans to spend its money, and charge its customers. Under previous regulatory structures, utility work would be reviewed by regulators after it's completed, and then the rates are set. BGE says it's a difference of looking forward versus looking backward.
January 1, 2026 would be the final rate adjustment for the current three year plan. BGE predicts it'll be about a 1.65% increase for the average customer. Cohen wants the PSC to call it off. BGE fired back forcefully.
"You heard today various accusations and claims about multi-year plans. Nearly all of them are false," BGE spokesperson Nick Alexopulos said. "Our spending is not going up because of multi-year plans. Costs are going up for everybody across the board for us because of technology and because materials are more expensive. You heard that this is some outlier, as I mentioned, it's not. It's used in 2/3 of states and 8 of 10 states that are the most ambitious in addressing climate change."
BGE also says its gas system is the oldest in the country, and therefore high-risk, so replacing it needs to happen regardless, and therefore rate hikes need to happen regardless.
"The claim that getting rid of multi-year plans would somehow provide rate relief, that is complete nonsense," Alexopulos said. "We have an obligation to make investments in the system under any regulatory mechanism that maintain and improve the safety and reliability of the system for our customers and our communities whether it's looking backward, whether it's looking forward."
"And while we all support public safety as a top priority and understand the need to modernize pipes that are decaying, it is hard to take this company's safety commitments seriously when, according to the PSC, they had a safety inspector who was hanging out on a boat while he was supposed to be inspecting our pipes," Cohen said, referring to an ongoing investigation by the PSC, after allegations were raised in April.
Alexopulos said the current cast iron natural gas pipelines, which account for 900 miles of BGE's system, leak at 100 times the rate of replacement materials.
"It is 12% of our system. It accounts for 2/3 of the leaks. Because of the proactive replacement work we have done, leaks have gone down. Underground leaks have gone down by more than 40%," Alexopulos said. "It is irresponsible of us to stop doing that work because of a histrionic press conference from someone who is not accountable for any of these decisions and wouldn't even meet with our CEO. [...] Our president and CEO Tamala Olivier reached out to him this week to say, hey, let's sit down and talk, and he declined, presumably because it would have prevented him from having the spectacle that we saw today."
Cohen told reporters on Thursday he won't take a meeting until BGE commits to a plan to provide rate relief.
"And let me just be really clear, I am really excited to meet with the new leadership at BGE. It is incumbent though on them to come with a plan. We've had meetings before. We've met with former CEOs. I've spoken to the CEO of Exelon, and I appreciate every time we get face time. That's not what I'm looking for. What I'm looking for is a plan for rate relief for my residents."
The back and forth between Cohen and BGE played out on camera as Cohen brought his bag of petitions to BGE's office downtown. The letters were rejected for security purposes. You can watch the exchange below.
The Public Service Commission did accept the petitions. You can also watch that exchange below. Chair Frederick Hoovertold Cohen he'll ensure they're entered into the official record as the regulatory agency continues a formal proceeding coined "Lessons Learned" to examine whether BGE's multi-year plans should continue or need improvements.
