Baltimore Business Journal

By Alan Zibel

Three companies plan to sell electricity to Marylandhouseholds this summer, offering an alternative to a 72 percent average rate increase for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. customers.

However, customers shouldn’t get too excited. The discounts off BGE’s rates are likely to be small.

While competitive electricity suppliers say they can save customers money, they are buying power in a market where energy costs are high relative to early 2000.

Electricity prices for BGE customers have been locked at 6.5 percent below 1993 levels for six years. With those price caps coming off July 1, competitive power companies say they can now offer electricity at better prices than BGE.

Customers who sign up for a plan to gradually phase in higher electricity rates over 18 months would still be able to pick an alternative supplier.

A Southern California firm, Commerce Energy Group Inc., plans to offer power to BGE customers at about 10 percent below BGE’s rates for a one-year contract, said Steven Boss, the company’s CEO.

"We intend to be in Maryland in a very big way," Boss said.

The company plans to market itself to residential customers, plus small and medium-sized businesses. It currently sells electricity in Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan and New Jersey.

Virginia-based Washington Gas Energy Services in early March announced plans to enter the Maryland residential market and is doing so in Delaware, where customers also face big increases in their power bills.

Under Washington Gas’s offer, BGE customers can save 10 percent off BGE rates in the summer and 3 percent for the rest of the year.

For customers with the median level of power use of 830 kilowatt hours per month, that means a savings of $9.60 per month during the summer and about $2.50 a month for the rest of the year. Customers will still get their bill from BGE.

"If they want to save some real money [and] not just defer costs, they can find a cheaper competitive supplier," said Harry Warren, the company’s CEO.

Warren also says 5 percent of the electricity his company supplies will come from wind power.

Pepco Energy Services is offering a "green" power alternative, 10 percent of which comes from renewable sources. While the price is slightly cheaper than BGE’s summer power rates, it is more expensive than BGE during the rest of the year.