BGE wants to raise monthly electric bills by an average of $8

Baltimore Gas and Electric asked state regulators to raise its customers’ electricity rates starting Aug. 1.

The utility company said it needs “to sustain a safe and reliable system,” according to plans filed with the Maryland Public Service Commission on Thursday.

In its filing, BGE calculated that this rate hike would lead to an $8 per month increase for the average residential electric customer. The private utility company plans to use the money to invest in its infrastructure. Without that investment, there could be more frequent and longer outages at a higher cost to customers, the filing said.

BGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

But, in its filing, the company said it has listened to customers and stakeholders’ affordability concerns. The ask comes as Maryland ratepayers have been crunched in recent years by costly utility bills that have increased by 17% year over year.

David Lapp, the state’s ratepayer advocate, said BGE is financially incentivized to spend more money because it leads to greater profits for the company.

Lapp, who leads the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, said the Commission should “carefully review the request to protect ordinary customers from the private corporate interests of BGE and its owner, Exelon.”

Emily Scarr, senior advisor at Maryland PIRG, a consumer advocacy group, said she has “serious concerns” about BGE’s rates and its profits.

“Today’s announcement may be the boiling point for Baltimore residents bracing for dangerously high temperatures this holiday weekend, worried about paying to keep their homes cool after a decade of rising BGE bills,” she said in a statement on Thursday.

BGE previously raised rates through the Multiyear Rate Plan pilot program, which allowed utility companies to request increases three years in advance. This proposed increase request — which would begin next month — is separate from those increases.

BGE “made a deliberate decision to delay its previously announced plan to file a rate case in early 2026 in order to evaluate potential alternatives,” according to the filing.

One of those alternatives was not raising rates, according to the filings. But the company decided against it and noted that its current rates “are neither just nor reasonable and do not yield a reasonable return on the fair value of BGE’s property devoted to electric delivery service.”

BGE’s profits have increased dramatically in recent years. The company made $578 million in profit last year, according to the company’s financial filings.