Amid rising bills, more Marylanders had utilities shut off last year than in 2024

Maryland residents had their natural gas and electricity service shut off for nonpayment nearly 115,000 times last year, according to data filed with state regulators.

That’s a substantial increase from just over 100,000 instances the year before, according to a federal government report.

Skyrocketing utility costs in Maryland, along with higher prices across the board, are squeezing ratepayers’ wallets, advocates say, making it harder for some to keep up with their bills. The consequence is more shut-offs and fewer reconnections.

“The bottom line is that bills are becoming fundamentally unaffordable for families, and that’s really why the terminations are occurring,” said Brandi Nieland, director of consumer assistance at the Office of People’s Counsel, Maryland’s ratepayer advocate.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., the largest utility company in the state, made nearly 60,000 disconnections for nonpayment last year, according to an analysis from The Banner. BGE has an estimated 1.3 million electric customers and 700,000 gas customers in Baltimore City and eight other Maryland counties.

Ratepayer advocates say affording energy bills has become harder for BGE customers in recent years. Delivery rates have increased by 30% since 2020, according to the Office of People’s Counsel. That doesn’t include BGE’s most recent rate case filing earlier this month, which is expected to increase bills by $8 per month.

BGE and the People’s Counsel have also pointed to the supply-side constraints that have increased bills regionally.

Potomac Electric Power Company, known as Pepco and also owned by Exelon, disconnected service more than 15,000 times last year among its customer base in Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. Washington Gas, owned by the Canadian company AltaGas, turned off gas for customers in five counties nearly 14,000 times.

Rebecca Walker, a spokesperson for Washington Gas, said in a statement that shut-off moratoriums during the COVID-19 pandemic triggered an accumulation of outstanding balances. Some utility customers may still be carrying those balances, affecting recent disconnection rates, she said.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s 2024 report and The Banner’s analysis use the estimated number of instances rather than a count of customers because final notices, disconnections and reconnections can happen multiple times in a year.

State regulations prohibit service terminations when the temperature (or heat index) is expected to be above 95 degrees or below 32 degrees at any point over the following 72 hours. And certain medical needs can prompt a pause on service termination.

The state regulator issued a moratorium on BGE shut-offs earlier this year while the utility addressed issues with its call center, but that pause expired Wednesday. With temperatures expected to eclipse 100 degrees on Wednesday, utilities will not be permitted to shut off power.

Disconnections in Maryland were highest in October and May, when extreme weather events are less frequent, The Banner’s analysis found.

Shut-offs don’t happen overnight. They’re usually the result of being months, and likely hundreds of dollars, behind on bills.

Before gas and electric companies can conduct a shut-off, they’re required to give their at-risk customers 14 days’ notice. These notices include the reason for termination, the amount owed, reconnection fees, if any, and payment options.

More than 2.7 million final notices were sent out in Maryland in 2024, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That number dipped to 2.1 million in 2025, The Banner’s analysis found.

Disconnections are a fraction of total notices. That’s because at-risk ratepayers often find the funds to pay the amount owed or work with their utility company to enroll in a payment plan, Nieland said.

Payment plans typically require an initial deposit that’s less than what’s owed, but “that doesn’t mean it’s affordable,” Nieland said.

“You already owe a big bill. Putting down a deposit on top of that — that’s going to be tough and sometimes impossible for people," she said.

Service disconnections have outpaced reconnections in the last two years, with 115,000 disconnections in 2025 compared with just over 89,000 reconnections.

That gap likely means some shut-off Marylanders are moving out of state, living without, or, in some cases, stealing energy from nearby homes and utility wires.

Utility customers can defer shut-offs or be reconnected if they’ve been shut off for nonpayment by applying for financial assistance. The Office of Home Energy Programs, under the Maryland Department of Human Services, is the main avenue for that type of aid.

But “it’s not enough to cover what’s coming in these bills,” Nieland said.

A record number of Maryland ratepayers are tapping into state- or utility-provided assistance programs. However, some don’t qualify for those programs because of their income level or because they don’t owe enough, The Banner reported earlier this year. Nieland said she’s been fielding more calls from people who fall into this category.

“Not even just from the people right on the line,” she said. It’s people who “would have been on good footing and are opening these bills, and they’re shell-shocked.”