baltimore gas and electric co

• News

Residents put gates on alleys to shut out criminals

Fed-up residents in Southeast Baltimore banded together to shut the T-shaped alleyway off from the rest of the neighborhood with a locked gate — illustrating a movement that is spreading to neighborhoods across Baltimore.

• Sun Investigates

Filings reveal cash on hand for potential Baltimore mayoral candidates

Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake leads the money race against potential future political opponents with more than $350,000 on hand, a review of the most recent campaign finance reports shows.

• Maryland

Tractor-trailer brings down poles, wires

Md. 496 is partially closed at Wine Road for a vehicle collision with utility poles affected, according to the Carroll County Sheriff's Office.

• Baltimore City

BGE and families settle lawsuit over fatal house explosion

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. confirmed Thursday that it has settled a lawsuit brought by residents of an East Baltimore rowhouse partially destroyed in a gas explosion, and the family of an eight-year-old boy who was killed in the blast.

• Marubeni Corporation

Waldorf power plant gets financing to build

A planned Southern Maryland power plant that was to be built with state help — an arrangement that set off an industry fight — landed financing Friday to start construction despite a court ruling overturning the assistance.

• Business

Cost of not taking a smart meter arrives

As bills go out with the first fees for customers who don't want smart meters, Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is pressing to apply the charges to a much larger group — people the utility says have ignored repeated requests to switch out their old indoor meter.

• Economic Organization

BGE's economic impact was $3.8B last year, study says

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. had a $3.8 billion economic impact on the Baltimore region last year, according to a study conducted for the utility.

• Sun Investigates

Some worry smart meters could be used to collect information on residents

Big Brother is watching you … through your smart meter? One complaint about the technology, as electric and gas utilities roll it out in Maryland and across the country, is that it offers one more way for government agencies — or hackers — to snoop on us.

• Trials and Arbitration

Children, elderly pay price for gamblers' neglect

An incident on July 21 at Maryland Live casino is the first reported case of a vulnerable adult left unattended in a car outside a Maryland casino since the first one opened in Cecil County nearly four years ago. Children left unattended in casino parking lots has been more common around the country and in Maryland, where charges have been brought against two people in the most serious incidents.

• Obituaries

John J. Ray, BGE administrator

John J. "Jack" Ray, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. administrator of quality assurance who was a founding member of St. Thomas More Roman catholic Church in Northeast Baltimore, died July 12 of acute myeloid leukemia at his Parkville home. He was 82.

• Energy

More BGE customers earning bill credits for cutting back

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. says 640,000 customers earned a bill credit last week for cutting back on electricity, the biggest test of a fledgling program aimed at reducing demand on hot days.

• Obituaries

Katharine K. "Kitty" Naylor, worked at Roland Park dress shops

Katharine K. "Kitty" Naylor, a former educator who later worked at several Roland Park dress shops, died July 14 at Roland Park Place of complications from a fall. She was 98.

• Baltimore City

Traffic tie-ups to ease as Russell Street work wraps up

Baltimore commuters take heart: Some of the frustration felt in recent weeks on major arteries to downtown will soon come to an end.

• Weather

Heat index around 100, storm chances forecast Wednesday

Temperatures reaching the mid-90s and high humidity are forecast to make it feel like triple digits in Baltimore on Wednesday.

• Energy Saving

BGE customers who conserve energy Wednesday will get a bill credit

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. says its first "Energy Savings Day" of the summer — when customers who voluntarily conserve earn bill credits — will hit on Wednesday.

• Obituaries

Rev. Joseph Messer, Roman Catholic priest

The Rev. Father Joseph Valentine Messer, a Roman Catholic priest who served in Glen Burnie and Severna Park, died Wednesday at Stella Maris Hospice. He was 90.

• Plant Openings

Power plants coming to electricity-hungry region

Maryland hasn't had a new power plant of any significance built in over a decade — one reason it imports more electricity than almost any other state, racking up extra charges for consumers. But now new plants are coming.

• Opinion

Will PSC ever turn down BGE? [Letter]

PSC should look out more for consumers and less for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.

• Baltimore City

City dog park coordinator scouts for new parks, manages existing ones

Barlipp began working on creating more dog parks in Baltimore about three years ago and now the three parks take up about 40,000 square feet of the city, with one park in progress.

• Crime

BGE asks for fourth rate increase in four years

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. is asking for the fourth rate increase in as many years.

• Baltimore City

Two large fires break out in Baltimore vacant properties

Baltimore firefighters battled two separate two-alarm fires in vacant properties Monday evening and early Tuesday morning, though no one was injured in either incident.

• Maryland

BGE warns of 'Green Dot' Visa scam

Baltimore Gas and Electric is warning about a scam where customers are contacted by telephone and told that their service is scheduled to be terminated unless the customers make a payment by purchasing a "Green Dot" Visa credit card.

• Maryland

BGE warns of 'Green Dot' Visa scam

• Baltimore City

Event to help low income Baltimore residents get help on energy bills

Low income Baltimoreans can get help with their energy bills at a three-day energy assistance event to be hosted by Stephanie Rawlings-Blake.

• Obituaries

Charles A. Powell, electrical engineer

Charles A. Powell, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. electrical engineer, died of a stroke June 21. The Cockeysville resident was 89.

• Food & Drink

Recipe Finder | Peach cake is a Baltimore summer classic

Peach cake is one of those uniquely Baltimore things, like coddies, that live long in people's memories.

• Real Estate

Oracle to buy Columbia's Micros Systems in $5.3 billion deal

Silicon Valley software giant Oracle Corp. announced a deal Monday to buy Micros Systems for $5.3 billion, eyeing the Columbia firm for its niche supplying technology to hotels, restaurants and retailers around the world.

• Obituaries

Henry B. "Burke" Mathews Jr., woodworker

Henry B. "Burke" Mathews Jr., co-founder of a Hampden custom cabinet business, died Thursday of renal failure at his Ruxton home. He was 88.

• Obituaries

Elaine F. Wood, secretary

Elaine F. Wood, a retired Baltimore County Health Department secretary and World War II veteran, died Tuesday of dysphagia, a swallowing disorder, at her Towson home. She was 98.

• Weather

Storms set multiple blazes, add to flooding and erosion worries

Storms bringing downpours and an intense flurry of lightning destroyed a church steeple, caved in the roof of a Middle River home and closed the Walters Art Museum for the day Thursday, amid another deluge in a season that has already raised concerns about flooding and erosion.

• Weather

Severe storm chances diminish as clouds help cool temperatures

An advancing cold front was expected to bring storms overnight and through Thursday, with temperatures reaching around 90 degrees before cooler air arrives.

• Howard County

A closer look at Stewart's campaign numbers

With $55,218.33 raised in the six months between Jan. 8 and June 8, Nick Stewart, an Arbutus resident, commercial litigation attorney at the Saul Ewing law firm in Baltimore and a former speechwriter for Gov. Martin O'Malley, leads the crowded field of District 12 candidates when it comes to campaign donations.

• Obituaries

Richard A. Pitts Sr., BGE instructor

Richard A. Pitts, a retired Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. training instructor and Air Force veteran, died Thursday of complications from Parkinson's disease at his Northeast Baltimore home. He was 70.

• Baltimore County

Early mornings on water part of dream to own Lansdowne crabhouse

Paul and Barry Koluch, co-owners of Cravin' Crabs of Lansdowne, are off to a slow start this crab season.

• Baltimore City Paper

Do It Yourself

• Baltimore City Paper

What a Wonderful World

• Baltimore City Paper

Your Electric Bills

• Food & Drink

Recipe finder | Classic crab imperial

A classic Maryland-style crab imperial should have very few ingredients and requires minimum seasoning. It is the crabmeat that is the focus of the dish.

• Opinion

End the BGE protection racket [Letter]

Smart meters are a dangerous attempt to control lives and make money for the utility

• Maryland

Helicopter in Westminster scouting for BGE power lines

• Justice System

Holder commemorates Brown v. Board decision at Morgan State commencement

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder told the youngest members of Morgan State's 2014 graduating class that due to the landmark U.S. Supreme Court ruling 60 years ago that outlawed racially segregated public schools "your generation will never know a world in which 'separate but equal' was the law of the land."

• Obituaries

Sharon C. Senkel, legal secretary

Sharon C. Senkel, a retired legal secretary and doll collector, died Sunday of complications from lupus at the Golden Living Nursing Home in Westminster. She was 66.

• Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.

Be careful lest you end up with someone else's BGE tab

Paying for your electricity probably isn't top of your list of favorite activities, so don't end up stuck with the bill for someone else's, too.

• Laws and Legislation

Surge in calls for help to keep the power on

Organizations that pay portions of past-due utility bills say the surge in calls for assistance they got during the bitterly cold winter have continued this spring as people try to keep their power on. The winter added to a longer-standing problem: Growing numbers of people can't afford their utility bills.

• Baltimore City

BGE is sued over gas explosion that killed 8-year-old boy

The family of a boy killed after a natural gas explosion has sued Baltimore Gas and Electric, alleging that the company ignored failing pipes that leaked the gas that triggered the explosion.

• Business

BGE parent company to acquire D.C.-based Pepco

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.'s parent said Wednesday that it has struck a $6.9 billion deal to acquire Pepco Holdings Inc., 17 years after BGE walked away from a protracted effort to buy its southern neighbor.

• Sports

Indoor meters present challenges in smart-meter rollout

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. can't install smart meters for some customers because they don't want the technology, but the utility is facing a logistical challenge in tens of thousands of other cases: No way to get to the old meter to switch it out.

• Business

A bid to lower manufacturers' energy bills

A new program to reduce manufacturers' energy costs focuses on companies making products here for a simple, weighty reason. Energy eats up big chunks of most manufacturers' budgets. Organizers see reducing that expense as one way to keep companies around in an era pockmarked by moves and shutdowns.

• Harford

Northern Harford residents leery about smart meters

Smart meters became the subject of discussion during the Jarrettsville/Norrisville Community Council meeting Wednesday night, but the discussion did not become as heated as its been in other areas of Harford County.

• Baltimore County

Natural gas main upgrade on Wilkens Avenue in Catonsville to begin mid-April

Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) announced Monday that it will begin a project in mid-April to upgrade a natural gas main under Wilkens Avenue in Catonsville.