Gunpowder Chronicle posted on May 25, 2007 2:52 AM | Rating:
| Views: 236
Governor Martin O'Malley built his 2006 Gubernatorial Campaign around the cornerstone of electricity rate regulation and the failures of the General Assembly, Governors Ehrlich and Glendenning, and the Public Service Commission to stop the hyperinflation of electric rates.
Marty the Mick claimed that if Maryland would just elect him, he would rein in BGE and put a stop to the rapid increase in electricity rates. Now we know the truth. He's as impotent as the rest of them...
His newly minted Public Service Commission was supposed to put a stop to 50% rate increases. But they realized what the rest of the state already knows: the Maryland General Assembly and Governor Glendenning sold the public a bill of goods on electricity de-regulation in 1999, and the customers of Baltimore Gas and Electric are paying the bill. As a result, the law prevents them from addressing this matter without opening the entire can of worms.
It is well know that I have never been a fan of electricity deregulation. I always thought it was a sham. And the way the General Politburo in Soddom on the Severn went about it --- creating rate caps for 8 years at rates that were equivalent to 1992 levels -- was a recipe for disaster. Combined with the fiction of "stranded costs", the General Politburo has generally fracked over the citizens of Central Maryland.
I think its time to frack back.