By Brooks Schandelmeier
Annapolis Alderman
My utility bill has gone up by $150 to $200 per month over the past year. I live in a townhome with my wife, and I am told I should consider myself lucky. Many Annapolitans have seen their monthly bills jump by $400 or more. At the same time, Annapolis’ utility assistance program is being drained more quickly as more families turn to it for help.
For working families, seniors on fixed incomes, and small businesses, these increases are not just frustrating — they are unsustainable.
Marylanders deserve straight answers about why this is happening. The simple version is that our energy system is under pressure. Demand is rising, the grid is expensive to maintain and upgrade, and it remains too difficult and costly to build the energy infrastructure we need. The result shows up in our utility bills each month.
In response, some lawmakers proposed allowing BGE and Pepco to produce electricity in addition to delivering it. At first glance, that may sound reasonable. If we need more power, why not let the utilities produce more of it?
Because the problem is not just supply. It is also market power.
BGE and Pepco already control electricity delivery in their respective service areas. Consumers do not have the ability to choose a different company to carry power to their homes. That makes these utilities monopolies by design, and for that reason they must be tightly regulated. If we also allow them to produce the electricity that runs through the very systems they control, we risk giving them too much power over the market.
That is bad for competition, and in the long run, bad for consumers.
Healthy competition helps keep prices in check. It encourages innovation, creates accountability, and prevents any one company from dominating the system. If a utility can both produce electricity and control the lines that deliver it, independent power producers could be put at a disadvantage. Over time, that could drive competitors out of the market and leave Marylanders with fewer options, less transparency, and even higher costs.
The General Assembly was right to reject that approach this session, and it should continue to do so.
At the same time, we cannot ignore the real factors driving up bills. One of the biggest is the cost of investments in transmission and distribution infrastructure — the poles, wires, substations, and related equipment that move electricity from where it is produced to where it is needed. These upgrades are necessary to ensure reliability, but Marylanders deserve transparency about where these investments are being made, why they are needed, and how costs are being passed along.
In local government, I have found that people are willing to pay for public investments when they understand the purpose and can see the value. Utility companies should be held to the same standard. If Maryland families are being asked to shoulder higher costs, they deserve a clear and honest explanation.
Government must also take responsibility. Building energy infrastructure in this country is too slow and too expensive. Federal, state, and local red tape can delay projects for years and drive up costs for everyone. If we want more reliable and affordable energy, we need to make it easier to build power plants, strengthen the grid, and modernize our infrastructure.
Marylanders need solutions that deliver relief, fairness, and long-term affordability. That means more transparency, smarter regulation, and faster action to expand and improve our energy system. It does not mean handing more control to monopoly utilities and hoping that somehow consumers will benefit.
Families across our state are already paying too much. We should not make that burden worse.
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