Financial relief is on the way for utility customers, provided an omnibus bill known as the energy leadership package, passes. Senators have folded the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF) into other bills.
SEIF contains $200 million that will be offered to ratepayers in two installments: one in the summer, when air conditioning use spikes, and again in the winter. The fund will last one year, though Senate President Bill Ferguson said there is a possibility of renewal.
“While it is being appropriated for this one year, we'll see where we are a year from now,” he said.
Senators are still ironing out the details. They don’t know how much each customer will get, but they do know it will be based on usage for residential customers.
Speaking in Annapolis on Friday, Ferguson said distributing it that way would be the most efficient, avoiding tax implications.
However, he acknowledged that this approach does not fully target middle income earners, “those who are really struggling to make their grocery budgets work, to buy clothes for kids, for school.”
“My concern is that someone in a mega mansion is going to get a whole lot of money,” said Sen. Cheryl Kagan, vice chair of the Education, Energy and Environment Committee. “If I had a magic wand, I would give more to those who need it most. ”
Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey countered that the measure is not a real rebate.
“This is a return of over-payments,” Hershey said.
“Ratepayers have been forced to underwrite the Democratic policies that have driven their rates up. Marylanders have overpaid more than $320 million in just 2023 alone, and now the Democrats want to take credit for giving back only $200 million and calling it short-term rate relief.”
A coalition of consumer and labor advocates applauded the measure, but are also pushing for long-term relief measures. They said legislation such as the Ratepayer Protection Act, would rein in utility spending.
Meanwhile, Baltimore City Council President, Zeke Cohen, is leading a public pressure campaign. He has launched an online petition calling on the Public Service Commission to end BGE’s multi-year rate plan.
BGE customers are encouraged to sign the petition or submit a letter to the PSC.
