Paid for by Citizens for Colburn Committee. Authority John W. Phillips,
Jr., Treasurer
Supporters:
Bill is first step toward real help for electric consumers
Opponents: Dismantling PSC is maneuver intended to make Ehrlich look bad
By KONRAD SUROWIEC
Staff Writer - Star Democrat
June 18, 2006
Supporters of the bill that dismantles the Maryland Public Service Commission
say it’s a first step toward providing real help for electric utility
customers.
Opponents say the bill is a political maneuver intended to make Gov. Robert Ehrlich and the PSC the scapegoats for a huge rate increase that was set to go into effect when a rate freeze ended.
In a special session that ended early Thursday morning, the state legislature passed Senate Bill 1 (Public Service Commission-Electric Industry Restructuring), which limits the electric rate increase for residential customers of Baltimore Gas & Electric to 15 percent for 11 months starting July 1. The bill averted a 72 percent increase for BGE customers, although BGE will be allowed to charge market rates starting Jan. 1, 2008.
The bill also removes all five members of the PSC as of July 1. Four of the five members, including PSC Chairman Ken Schisler of Talbot County, were appointed by Ehrlich, a Republican. The bill requires Ehrlich to pick five new members from a list of 10 names submitted by the Democratic leadership of the Maryland Senate and House of Delegates.
The senate voted 36-11 to pass SB 1, and the House voted 109-26 to pass the bill.
Del. Richard Sossi, R-36-Queen Anne’s, said there’s not much difference between the BGE rate plan that Ehrlich proposed near the end of the regular session in April and the rate plan approved in the special session. Sossi said Ehrlich’s plan called for an initial increase of 21 percent for BGE customers, but customers would not be charged a monthly fee. Sossi said SB1 requires customers to pay a monthly fee (expected to be about $2.19) for 10 years.
“It’s an 11-month deal,” said Sossi, who voted against SB 1. “As luck would have it, it takes you past the next election and the next (legislative) session.”
Del. Rudy Cane, D-37A-Wicomico, voted for SB1, saying it gives the PSC more latitude to control electric costs. He said the legislature had to act to prevent the 72 percent BGE rate increase. Otherwise, he said many people faced the prospect of deciding whether to “eat, heat, or buy medicine.”
“The electric bill, I thought, was excellent,” said Cane.
“It begins to lay the groundwork for the whole utility issue statewide,” said Sen. E.J. Pipkin, R-36-Upper Shore, one of three Republicans senators to vote for SB 1.
Pipkin said the bill requires the PSC to look at all electric power contracts in Maryland to make sure their rate increases “were fair and right.”
Sen. Richard Colburn, R-37-Mid-Shore, voted against SB 1. He said the 1999 deregulation bill approved by the legislature capped electric rates at 1993 levels for 13 years for BGE residential customers, and those rates were “artificially low.”
Colburn said the bill does nothing for Eastern Shore residents served by Delmarva Power; the bill could be the “nail in the coffin” that prevents the merger of Constellation Energy (owner of BGE) with Florida Power & Light; and the bill puts consumers in a deeper financial hole.
He said consumers should not be forced to pay a monthly fee for 10 years if they want to pay the market rate. Colburn said SB 1 provides a rate increase deferral plan, not a rate relief plan.
“It marks Maryland as the most hostile business state in the nation,” said Colburn.
“Legitimately, you can’t blame the PSC for the rate mess. It’s pure political ‘scapegoatism,’” said Colburn. He said Democratic legislative leaders succeeded in shifting the blame for the huge jump in electric rates to Ehrlich and the PSC.
Also voting against SB 1 were delegates Mary Roe Walkup, R-36-Kent, and Addie Eckardt, R-37B-Dorchester. Walkup said the bill gives BGE customers “a breather,” but it just delays the rate increase for 11 months.
“I don’t think the legislature should have had to do this (address the BGE rate issue) again,” said Walkup. “This, to me, was a political session.”
Eckardt said SB1 has some good provisions, but overall she said it enacts “real poor public policy.” She said the high cost of fuel is driving electric rates up.
“We don’t know what the rates will be after this 11-month period,” said Eckardt.
Eckardt said the five PSC members were removed without any removal process in place, and the legislature has never done something like that.
Also in the special session, the legislature approved a bill that sets tougher penalties for convicted sex offenders. House Bill 2 (Sexual Offenders - Supervision, Notification and Penalties) passed the House126-0 and the Senate 39-5. Eastern Shore lawmakers said the law should have been approved in the regular session, but were pleased it finally got passed.
The bill provides a mandatory 25-year minimum sentence for a person convicted of first-degree rape or sex offense against a child under 13. A person convicted of second-degree rape or sex offense against a child under 13 would receive a mandatory 5-year minimum sentence. Child sex offenders would not be blocked from being eligible for parole.
Eckardt said passage of HB 2 was the “best news” of the special session. Sossi said Del. Michael Smigiel, R-36-Cecil, was “very instrumental” in getting the sex offender bill out of committee and approved. Pipkin said the legislation had to get passed “because our citizens were demanding it.”
Colburn said the bill was a compromise, but it contained about 80 percent of the provisions he wanted.
“The sticking point for me was whether sexual offenders should be eligible for parole. In my opinion, they shouldn’t be eligible for parole,” said Colburn. But he voted for HB 2, saying the bill takes a “major step toward some reasonable sex offender penalties.”
Cane, the outgoing chairman of the Legislative Black Caucus, said the caucus is philosophically opposed to mandatory minimum prison terms, but he still voted for HB 2.
Walkup said child molestation is a “huge social problem” and tough laws are needed. But she said the issue goes beyond laws because it’s a medical problem.
