Is it six months? Is it a year? Is it longer?

Baltimore Gas and Electric reassured South Baltimore residents at a community meeting Monday that it was pausing controversial infrastructure upgrades in the area. But representatives of the utility company told the Riverside Neighborhood Association that they can’t say when the pause would end — and said BGE intends to move forward with the project eventually.

That didn’t sit well with the two dozen residents who gathered in the Salem Lutheran Church basement Monday night. The community meeting was cordial, though attendees pressed the BGE officials for more specificity.

“What does the pause actually mean?” asked Dave Arndt of Locust Point. He pushed for a time estimate.

“If we had the answer, I promise we would tell you,” said Cristiano Quijano, one of two BGE engagement managers who attended the meeting.

Before the pause, BGE planned to spend at least $537 million building new substations and transmission lines to electrify a massive new development at Baltimore Peninsula, the neighborhood formerly known as Port Covington.

Installing a new transmission line would disrupt traffic across several South Baltimore neighborhoods, and the associated construction costs would be passed on to ratepayers in monthly energy bills.

BGE began to outline the electrical needs for Baltimore Peninsula about a decade ago. That’s when Under Armour founder and CEO Kevin Plank unveiled his vision for the former industrial site. But little of that original ambitious project has been built, Plank has stepped back, and its future is in the hands of an Arkansas bank.

BGE has argued that the electrification of Baltimore Peninsula would have broader benefits for all of South Baltimore. But the company agreed to pause its project following pushback from politicians, including Senate President Bill Ferguson, whose district includes the affected area.

That “pause” became a point of contention at Monday’s meeting.

Quijano and Lineta Duren, another BGE community engagement manager, told residents the electrification project remains necessary and would continue after the pause.

That left several in the meeting wondering: What is the point of a pause?

One resident asked if BGE could create a website with all the information about the project.

No, Quijano said, because BGE has paused the project and is only doing community outreach.

The resident asked whether a website would count as community outreach.

No, Quijano said, because the website would require technical information from engineers — which is unavailable because the project is paused.

(Later in the meeting, Quijano and Duren said BGE might be able to create a project website.)

The pause allows BGE to talk with developers, Quijano and Duren said, noting that the increased electrification of the Port of Baltimore and the planned redevelopment of Harborplace would also create demand.

“What I’m hearing is, ‘We’re concerned about the developers. We’re going to pay a little bit of attention to the communities, but not really much,’” said Riverside resident Richard Pazornik. “I still feel like I’m getting screwed.”

Pazornik asked the BGE representatives to explain in “really stupid terms” why the utility couldn’t pick a less disruptive route for its transmission line.

Staff members from the offices of Ferguson, Del. Luke Clippinger and Councilman Zac Blanchard attended the meeting, as well as businessman Bobby LaPin, who’s challenging Ferguson in the Democratic primary.

To LaPin, it seemed that BGE had picked a transmission line route that required the least amount of government oversight — even if it was the most disruptive for South Baltimore residents.

LaPin asked how people could trust anything BGE said about the project, because the private utility has a profit incentive to build more electrical infrastructure.

“Last year you had your most profitable year in the history of the company, $570 million in profit,” LaPin said.

“Enough to cover this project,” a woman interjected, drawing laughs from the audience.

Jeff Newberry, president of the Riverside Neighborhood Association, said he appreciated the utility company’s attendance at the community meeting. But he also pushed back on Quijano and Duren multiple times, at one point calling BGE “disingenuous.”

Newberry said he wanted more than a listening session. He said he wanted answers.