Posted under Energy
WTOP breaks the news that BGE is starting to shut off power to 74,000 Marylanders who are behind on their payments:
BGE says its has started cutting off power to tens of thousands of its customers…
Back in April the Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order that placed limits on power companies in the state when it came to turning off service to those who don’t pay their bills. The order required the state’s largest power companies to offer interest free repayment plans for up to one year before termination…
According to the company, 74-thousand customers are in arrears and have not taken any action after receiving letters and phone calls.
When you have over 70,000 people in the state who can’t afford to pay their electricity bill, you know that something is systematically wrong with the system.
Maryland is facing a major energy shortage that will only drive prices higher.
Major reform is need so that people can keep their lights on and, over the long term, get their bills down.
2 Responses to “BGE Shutting Off Power To 70K+ Marylanders”
BGE Cutting Power To 75,000 | Eye On Annapolis on 23 Jun 2009 at 7:21 am #
[...] as Legum’s New Line has pointed out, when you have 74,000 people unable to afford electricity; it is indicative of a [...]
Charlie Cooper on 02 Jul 2009 at 5:09 am #
The federal energy/climate bill gives 85% of the emission permits free to polluters, which means that consumers are in for another reaming if the bill passes in that form. The cost of energy will rise and the profits will go to the utilities and energy producers.
The concept put forward by Obama, Maryland Rep. Chris van Hollen, and environmental advocacy groups would make industry pay for the permits and then rebate most of the money to consumers to allow them to balance their budgets in the face of higher energy costs.