About the Bill

The bill passed by the General Assembly early yesterday morning does many things:

• Passed on the larger rate hike until next year, conveniently well after the election.
  
• It replaces the Governor's plan, which allowed for no interest charges, with a plan that will stretch out interest charges on electricity for ten years.
• It fires the Public Service Commission, and requires the new PSC be appointed by the Legislature.
• It prohibits the administration from spending state funds to challenge the bill in court
• Requires that any court action be heard in Baltimore City, regardless of where the plaintiffs would actually file the case.
• Extends rate caps, thereby further extending the period where Maryland residents will not have real electricity competition.

As Barry Rascovar notes:

That’s the Democratic legislature’s handiwork. Consumers get a bad deal but legislators will try to spin it the other way. In this case the devil, indeed, is buried in the details.

And how will all of this affect the thousands of Marylanders who work for BGE/Constellation Energy? With the rate caps going back on, will the Constellation/FPL merger go forward? How does this impact Constellation's Credit Rating.

The General Assembly hurt the state early Thursday morning by passing a bill that is a radical interpretation of state utility regulation, and Democratic leadership basically did it just so Governor Ehrlich could not take credit for negotiating a more equitable deal (as he did). This is just another example of the Anti-Business, Anti-Worker, Anti-Consumer General Assembly.