Maryland utilities
Action Alert: Put Maryland Utility Customers Before Company Profits!
As temperatures plummet, Maryland utility customers should be able to heat their homes without being forced to choose between utility bills and groceries or prescriptions, yet multi-million dollar utilities keep raising rates for customers while service outages continue. As a regulated monopoly, residents have few choices on how to heat and light their homes. Today, utility companies shift many of their business expenses onto our utility bills. Economic Action Maryland Fund is working to pass HB1/SB2, which would help lower energy bills and protect ratepayers. This bill would: Cap the amount of executive salaries and bonuses that are passed onto ...
Maryland Matters Article: Maryland utilities fight bill that would regulate employee bonuses
Our Deputy Director, Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, was quoted in an article in Maryland Matters that highlights the fact that Maryland utility companies are fighting a bill that would regulate utility company employee bonuses. “We take some umbrage at the thought that, even if it’s a $5 a month savings, that’s somehow not worth it,” Bevan-Dangel said. “These are individuals who are on fixed incomes, who are on incredibly low incomes — $60 a year is a week of essential groceries for one of our clients.” You can read the whole article here. For more information on our policy advocacy work in ...
Utility Bill Information for Furloughed Federal Employees
From the Maryland Office of People's Counsel Because the current federal shutdown has lasted longer than 7 consecutive days, protections for certain residential utility customers are now in effect. If you're a government employee in Maryland who has been furloughed without pay because of the government shutdown, you may qualify for protection from having your gas and electric service shut off. This applies whether or not you're still required to report to work during the shutdown. Gas and electric utility companies cannot disconnect your service for nonpayment during the shutdown or for 7 days after it ends as long as ...
Sick of BGE Rate Hikes? Learn How to Fight Back!
If you are upset about the current cost of utilities, you’re not alone. In 2025, the average yearly BGE bill for a home with a gas furnace is estimated to be $3,750, about a 50% increase from 2021. Make no mistake, this is not simply an issue of supply and demand, these costs are being driven up by corporate greed. It is unacceptable. The past few months, Economic Action Maryland Fund and our partners fought for legislation to reduce the cost of utilities while the gas and utilities spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbyists to defeat these bills. ...
Your Utility Bill Shouldn’t Fund Shareholder Perks!
It’s no secret that utility bills are at an all time high in Maryland, and are only set to increase. With the rising costs, families have been forced to choose between heating their homes and food, medicine, and other basic needs. Thousands of Baltimore City households experienced BGE shutoffs in 2024. Meanwhile, our monopoly utilities are using the money they collect from your monthly bills to fund their lobbying and advertisements. They've even attempted to charge ratepayers for their retirement gifts. This lavish spending benefits them, not you. The ratepayer pays the bill, the utility companies reap the rewards. This ...
Contact Your Legislators and Stop Out of Control Utility Bills!
Background In 2013, the Maryland General Assembly passed legislation to allow gas utilities to add a surcharge to customers' bills as an incentive for utilities to install new pipes– the STRIDE program. As passed, the law does not require utilities to prioritize cost effectiveness nor safety resulting in excessive and wasteful spending. Gas utilities have spent billions on new pipes and equipment, leading to massive rate hikes. Utilities have reaped enormous profits without commensurate community benefits. For example: In 2023 BGE spent about $160 million on its STRIDE plan. After accounting for BGE’s profits and interest, that $160 million will cost ...
Fact Sheets for Maryland Tenants
Maryland Tenant Fact Sheets Please click on a topic below, to download a one-page fact sheet. Fact sheets are in PDF format. Air Conditioning Rent Escrow Ratio Utility Billing (RUBS) Security Deposits Fair Housing Protected Classes Our comprehensive Tenant Guide is updated each year, as laws change. You’ll find information on how to choose a suitable property, what’s allowed in a lease, and how to find information on your prospective landlord, along with information on what to do if things go wrong during your tenancy. You can download the Tenant Guide here. If you need information ...
Policy Advocacy
Policy and Legislative Advocacy We work across Maryland — and at the local, state, and federal levels — to bring people and organizations together to challenge the financial systems that let powerful corporations profit while people of every age, all across the state, are pushed into cycles of hardship. We confront the laws, regulations, debt-collection practices, and housing systems that stack the deck against Marylanders, because we believe power should be in people’s hands, not concentrated among a wealthy few. Together, we uncover systemic issues in our financial system and work to create policies that don’t just ...