Simple steps ease jump in BGE bills

The Baltimore Sun

In preparation for his first electric bill after last month's 50 percent rate increase, Bolton Hill resident and landlord Greg Baranoski harked back to his childhood in the 1960s.

Despite an above-average number of 90-degree days last month, he turned on his air conditioning only twice. Instead, he slept under a ceiling fan and with the windows open. During the day, he closed shutters and curtains to keep out the sun's warming rays. At night, indoor lights - mostly low-wattage bulbs - were dimmed whenever practical.

"It's normal, sensible things to do that I remember doing as a kid in the '60s but haven't done for years," said Baranoski, who designs window displays for independent retailers when he isn't managing the 12 rental units he owns.

Despite all the effort, his latest BGE bill came to $68.90 for his apartment, up nearly 59 percent from the previous month's bill of $43.46.

"I'm using less than ever, and it's the biggest bill I've had in at least the last two years," he said.

Baranoski is among the 1.1 million BGE customers who are just now getting their first bills after the state's largest utility implemented a 50 percent rate increase June 1 as part of the transition to deregulation.

Consumers, who unleashed a barrage of anger at BGE and state lawmakers during last year's debate over electricity rates, seem resigned to the higher costs though they're still unhappy about them. All but 45,000, or about 4 percent, of the utility's customers balked at signing up for an optional, interest-free plan to temporarily defer the full increase until January.

The deadline to sign up for the deferral plan expired Saturday. That means most of the utility's customers elected to start paying the full amount right away and have by now received a bill that reflects at least a partial month's worth of charges at the new rates. For most consumers, the bills they receive this month should include a full billing cycle at the higher rates.

The increase comes a year after rate caps that had been in place for six years expired last summer, leading to a more than 70 percent rise in residential bills. A political outcry stemming from the transition to a deregulated energy market led lawmakers to temporarily limit the increase to 15 percent last summer. But the legislation required residential customers to start paying full market rates this year.

"Clearly, customers have no control over the world energy marketplace, but the one thing that we as customers do have control over is our energy usage," said Rob Gould, a BGE spokesman.

Gov. Martin O'Malley, who made the rate increase a major theme of his election campaign but acknowledged this spring that there was little he could do to stop it, announced Monday that the state would lead efforts to cut statewide energy usage by 15 percent by 2015. He revealed a plan to curb energy use by state agencies and office buildings.

The proposal comes as the O'Malley administration and Public Service Commission regulators are studying a variety of methods to limit future rate increases. Options range from implementing some form of re-regulation to promoting energy conservation. O'Malley said yesterday that he plans to hold an energy summit this month.

But any fix could be years off, leaving state residents to find their own ways to cope with higher costs now.

For many, that means adopting low-tech solutions pioneered by their parents and grandparents in a simpler time, when air conditioning was a luxury and the average household had one television, one refrigerator and no computers.

"Most things aren't really as essential as you think they are," said Betsy Dawson, an Annapolis mother of four who counts the kilowatts her family uses every month. Two of her children still live at home.

Dawson started hanging clothes outside to dry after calculating how much laundry she was doing every month. She figures she shaved about $130 to $160 off her monthly utility bill by idling her electric clothes dryer, curbing air conditioning usage and keeping shades drawn during the day, among other things.

Donna Taylor, a Baltimore postal worker and BGE customer, recently started hanging clothes outside and is taking other steps to cut back, such as turning up her thermostat to lower cooling costs.

Taylor also is saving money by holding back her contributions to the Maryland fuel fund, which applies donations to help low-income residents with their bills.

"Unfortunately, instead of them getting an extra check from me to help somebody else, I've got to help myself," she said.

Charles W. Griffin, board president of the Victorine Q. Adams Fuel Fund, said the fund has seen a tripling of residents seeking assistance. O'Malley announced last month that he was adding $5 million to the Electric Universal Service Program - enough to help an additional 3,000 families in need of assistance. But Griffin fears that won't go far enough.

"It's a nice gesture, but it doesn't get to the root of the problem," he said.

BGE says it is doing what it can to educate customers about how the rate increase will affect their bills and about options for getting assistance. But confusion remains.

Several callers to the utility's Woodlawn customer service center Monday morning said they couldn't tell whether they had been signed up for the most recent rate deferral plan. Many were worried that they had been put in the optional program against their wishes. In each case, the callers were confusing credits on their bill from last year's mandatory deferral plan with the latest optional plan approved by the PSC.

Still other callers were clearly in trouble. One was hundreds of dollars in arrears and wanted an extension. Another - an elderly woman on a fixed income - wanted to know why her bill was so high.

"Of course, no one is happy that we're raising their bill, but as long as you give them the information, you're courteous and you explain to them what their options are, most people understand," said Melissa Harris, the BGE customer service representative who took the calls.

For all of the outrage lawmakers have professed over the rate increase, consumer advocates say conservation remains the best hope for Maryland residents in the near term.

It was hoped that deregulation would lead to competition among energy suppliers and bring lower prices. But competitive energy suppliers have struggled to gain a toehold in the Maryland market, leaving utility customers with limited choices when it comes to shopping for cheaper power.

Dawson was among those who switched to a competitive supplier last year, when BGE first announced that rates would increase by 72 percent. She signed up with Dominion Retail Inc., which offered a cheaper rate on a one-year contract. But since then, Dominion and many other alternative suppliers have had to raise rates because of higher wholesale energy costs.

With the savings evaporating, Dawson is considering going back to BGE, and Dominion is no longer signing up new residential customers in Maryland. To date, fewer than 3 percent of BGE customers have switched to other suppliers.

But the market may be swinging back in favor of competitive suppliers, said Harry Warren, president of Washington Gas Energy Services, a retail energy supplier. He said wholesale energy prices are trending down again, which may soon give competitors an opportunity to lock in power supply at a cheaper rate than BGE now offers. The changing market conditions come as the company is seeing more interest in its offers.

"We'll see how that continues as people really start to experience the higher bills now and possibly get motivated about [shopping around]," he said.

Baranoski said he is giving Washington Gas a chance to prove its case. He has one account with the alternative energy supplier, while the rest of the 12 rental units he owns remain with BGE.

"We did it as a test a year ago to see if it would be cheaper," he said. "We'll see at the end of 12 months."

paul.adams@baltsun.com

Saving energy at home

Here are some suggestions for saving energy:

Use compact fluorescent bulbs, which last 10 times longer and use up to 75 percent less energy than regular incandescent bulbs.

In summer, set your thermostat at 78 degrees or higher. Every degree above 72 degrees will save you 5 percent to 7 percent on cooling costs.

Wash only full loads of clothes, rinsing with cold water. Avoid drying very small loads, but do not overload the dryer.

Caulk around windows and doors to stop air leaks, and check the condition of caulk every year.

Tune up your central air conditioner so that it's running at peak efficiency.

Install a programmable thermostat and set your air conditioner to turn off when you leave for work and come back on just before you return.

Avoid activities that generate heat during the hottest part of the day, such as baking or doing the laundry.

[Source: BGE and Sun archives]

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