OCEAN CITY, Md., Gov. Martin O'Malley announced Saturday that Maryland will join Montgomery County, the University of Maryland and other local governments in a long-term commitment to buy wind power and other renewable energy, as he laid out an aggressive plan to overhaul the state's electricity system.
O'Malley (D) said the boost to alternative power sources, the first deal of its kind in the nation, will be critical in preventing rolling blackouts Maryland could face as soon as 2011 if the state's thirst for power continues to outpace supply. But he put on notice the energy companies whose profits have soared as electricity bills increased under deregulation: Unless Maryland's still-regulated utilities add new supplies of power, his administration will order them to build new plants.
"We cannot stand idly by and wait for market forces or the electricity good fairy to solve this problem for us," the governor told 350 local and state government leaders gathered for the Maryland Association of Counties annual conference.
Acknowledging that the switch to deregulation almost a decade ago "has failed us" with no promised competition to lower prices, O'Malley took a swipe at Constellation Energy Group, whose utility, Baltimore Gas & Electric, imposed eye-popping rate hikes in the Washington suburbs and Baltimore during the transition to competition. "We already saw what happened when we tried to whistle a happy song: 70 percent rate hikes."
Constellation Energy said in a statement that the company is "pursuing innovative and constructive solutions" to increase the supply of power, offering incentives to BGE customers to conserve with energy-saving devices and seeking federal approval for a third nuclear reactor.
Residential customers in Maryland and the District pay among the highest bills in the mid-Atlantic, owing to the region's congested power grid, a 20-year drought in new plant construction and a free-market system that allows power companies to charge what the market will bear.
Full Story: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/16/AR2008081602220.html
