Group decries utility regulatorsÂ’ cap on rates
So says a group of commercial and industrial electric customers that challenged state utility regulators, who approved a cap on rates for 17,000 Maryland businesses May 29.
The Maryland Public Service Commission is requiring many of the state's small commercial customers to transition to a new utility rate by June. That transition, combined with rising energy costs, could levy a 40 percent increase in electric rates on businesses in service areas for Baltimore Gas & Electric, Delmarva Power & Light Co., and Allegheny Power.
The PSC is capping the increase at 15 percent for the companies from June to August. To help fund the rate cap, the PSC will require all commercial and industrial electric customers to pay an increase in distribution rates, a roughly 1 percent to 3 percent increase in their overall electric bills, during that time.
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California Public Utilities Commission sides with community energy program over SDG&E
SAN DIEGO - The California Public Utilities Commission on Thursday sided with the soon-to-launch San Diego community energy program in a dispute it had with San Diego Gas & Electric.
San Diego Community Power — which will begin to purchase power for customers in San Diego, Chula Vista, La Mesa, Encinitas and Imperial Beach later this year — had complained to the commission that data SDG&E intended to use to calculate rates would make the new energy program less attractive to prospective customers.
SDG&E argued it was using numbers it was authorized to employ as part of a general rate case that…
