BALTIMORE, Md. - The Maryland Public Service Commission will hold two virtual public comment hearings, requested by Delmarva Power & Light, to get input on a proposed rate increase. They say the increase would increase rates by $37.5 million over 3 years (2023-2025).
PSC says that the two hearing will take place Tuesday, September 13th at 6:00 p.m., and Thursday, September 22 at 6:00 p.m.
Delmarva Power, an electric company that serves around 210,000 customers in 10 counties, says that they want to increase the rates so that they can invest in the methods they use to distribute electricity, as well as customer service.
Delmarva's 3 year plan has rates increase $11.3 million in 2023 ($3.42 more every month), 22.9 million in 2024 ($3.50 more every month). Delmarva says for 2025, the per month bill increase would be $4.37. Until 2020, PSC says Delmarva relied on making rates based on looking at usage over the past 12 months so that the rates would cover the costs. Because of this, rates have been raised as frequently as every year in an effort to recover costs quicker.
Anyone that wants to speak at the hearings can sign up by sending an email to kimberly.schock@maryland.gov by noon on Friday, September 9th for the first hearing and by Tuesday, 20th for the second hearing. PSC says that the meetings will be on the Webex platform and participants will receive an email with the link to join. For anyone that just wants to watch, they will be livestreamed on the commission's YouTube channel.
In addition to the hearings, written comments can be submitted electronically through the Commission’s online portal at https://www.psc.state.md.us/make-a-public-comment/ Comments can also be sent by mail and should be addressed to: Andrew Johnston, Executive Secretary, Maryland Public Service Commission, William Donald Schaefer Tower, 6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202. So that they are noted in the proper case file, all comments should reference Case No. 9681 and should be sent by October 7, 2022.
The commission says they must make a decision on this request by December 15th, 2022.