BGE Customers to Receive $100 Credit in February

By: Salina Greene, Outreach Coordinator, NHS of Baltimore

Chilling winds, freezing rain, single digit temperatures- we are all familiar with they place on our heating bills during the winter months. Families struggle every year to find a way to lower their consistently higher utility costs, which most commonly peak in the month of February. Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) has decided to deliver a post-holiday gift to their customers- a $100 credit on their February bills!

You may ask, too good to be true? It turns out this credit is part of several conditions imposed by the State of Maryland and energy regulators. BGE’s parent company, Constellation Energy Group has recently been approved for a joint merger with Electricite de France (EDF), which closed its doors last month. After a status hearing earlier this week with the Maryland Public Service Commission, BGE mapped out all of their precautionary measures to protect their business in case the parent company runs into financial troubles. All residential customers as well as customers who have switched to another supplier are eligible for the credit. This credit is in response to increasingly higher bills paid by so many Marylanders.

Under the new long-term contracts, customers should be seeing a decrease in their bills in the coming months; as natural gas and electricity prices are dropping globally. BGE gas bills are expected to decrease by as much as 25% this winter. Electric bills should drop by as much as 15% by 2012 and the decline is expected to continue. Constellation’s merger with EDF will create a pool of $36 million for Constellation’s foundation, to help pay for the creation of a visitor’s center, and the EDF’s relocation to Maryland. The long-term fate of the various new projects from this merger is dependent upon the federal loan guarantee from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). This will be decided next year.