Maryland Business

February’s record-breaking snow fall knocked out power in many Maryland neighborhoods, leading loads of people to escape to hotels or to stay with friends and family.

Some — call them brave, stubborn or stupid — chose to stick it out at home, layering up and huddling together for warmth for days on end.

Most people said they understood that Mother Nature was at fault and that the power companies were doing their best to restore electricity to their homes, but others got a little heated over the wait, especially because some delays were caused by a lack of coordination with plowing crews.

Now the state’s Public Service Commission, which regulates utilities, is calling for most of the regional power companies to submit reports on their performances during the storm, apparently as a result of a request by House Majority Leader Kumar Barve, who was unhappy with how long his 83-year-old mother was without power in Montgomery County. (Now some people aren’t happy with Barve’s focus on MoCo.)

Utilities are required to do this anyway within three weeks of a major storm that knocks out power for the lesser of 10 percent or 100,000 of that utility’s customers when it takes more than 24 hours to restore power.

Some utilities didn’t think the storm caused those types of outages for their customers, and they hadn’t planned on submitting reports, so the PSC is requiring it. The commission will also hold a legislative-style hearing on March 23 to review the reports and go over any “lessons learned” by the utilities.

I was lucky not to lose power during February’s monster storms while many of my neighbors in Montgomery County shivered in cold, dark homes, so I can’t complain. But I’m sure those of you out there who did suffer through the storm without power are hoping the utilities learned enough to keep your homes warm and toasty next time another storm rolls around.

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Delmarva Power & Light Co. mucked up efforts to hold a public hearing last week on its plans to increase rates for distributing electricity, and now it has to pay to fix it.

The Public Service Commission requires companies to hold hearings to publicly air their intentions and allow customers to say what they will about the utility’s plans in most major cases.

The companies have to notify customers of the hearings through advertisements in general circulation newspapers and submit proof that the ads were published to the PSC on or before the date of the hearing.

Well, Delmarva did as it was supposed to and published the ads, but did not provide a copy to the PSC before its hearings. At the Oct. 15 hearing, the PSC said it discovered that Delmarva had “inadvertently” failed to mention in its ads what exactly it would discuss at the public hearings. Oops.

Now, according to an order from the PSC issued today, Delmarva is on the hook for three additional public hearings, and it can’t pass the cost along to its ratepayers as utilities usually do. Delmarva has to pay expenses for a court reporter and travel expenses for PSC officials and staff members from the Office of the People’s Counsel to attend the hearings.

No idea how much all of that would cost, but Delmarva will foot the entire bill.

The company also has to put a notice of the hearings on the home page of its Web site with all of the relevant details available without clicking on a link.

And, once again, it has to publish notice of the hearings in newspapers — hopefully this time with all of the necessary info — as well as provide proof of publication to the PSC. The only problem is that the company isn’t required to send a copy of the ad to regulators before it runs to make sure they got it right.

The fault here is obviously with Delmarva for failing to tell customers why they were holding the hearings, but doesn’t it seem like it would make more sense for the PSC to make the company send over copies of the ads before they run in order to avoid another redo?

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The Maryland Public Service Commission kicked off  a week-long round of hearings on Monday over the proposed Constellation Energy – EdF deal. The French power giant wants to buy just shy of 50 percent of the Baltimore company’s nuclear power holdings.

No stranger to the dance, as Constellation’s earlier attempts at a full merger with FPL in 2006 and MidAmerican in 2008 were scrutinized by state regulators.

With the $4.5B EDF deal, Constellation is using the web to make its case to the public. The company has set up a web site that has fact sheets covering everything from executive compensation to one called “Myths vs Facts.”

The hearings are also being followed via Twitter from Constellation’s account. Excerpts of testimony were being doled out all day, including one that said, “J. Morris of EDF said at PSC hearing just now that EDF will look for opportunities elsewhere if not a welcomed investor in Maryland.”

In addition to the tweets, fact sheets and position papers, Constellation also launched an online petition for people to sign and let the Public Service Commission know they support the deal. According to Constellation’s count, the petition had 5,113 signatures as of 4:40 on Monday.

What’s your take on Constellation’s strategy – too aggressive,  just right or not enough?

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Calling all energy wonks — Maryland’s Public Service Commission is looking for someone to fill a seat on its five-member commission following the departure of Commissioner Allen M. Freifeld at the end of his term earlier this month.

The PSC won’t actually be doing the hiring, but it is soliciting applications through July 8 for Gov. Martin O’Malley, who will appoint someone. The pay is not shabby at $130,050.

Here’s what the PSC does by law:

“Supervise and regulate public service companies to ensure their operation is in the interest of the public; to promote adequate, economical, and efficient delivery of utility services in the State without unjust discrimination; and to enforce compliance with the requirements of law by public service companies.”

The job posting lists no job requirements, but applicants should probably have a background in energy, telecommunication, water or taxi  issues.

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It’s just a hunch, but my guess is Mayo A. Shattuck III won’t be home tonight.

That probably won’t stop the Power 4 the People Project from holding a candlelight march on the Constellation Energy Group CEO’s Baltimore home to “demand” that the guy stop power shut-offs for customers who are behind on their bills. They’d also like him to “roll back gas & electric rates.”

“We are holding a candle light march to CEO Mayo Shattuck’s home on the day before 84,000 people are slated to have their utilities shut-off to symbolize the many families and individuals who will be in the dark with only candles,” said Steven Ceci, spokesman for the group, which is a branch of the Bail Out the People Movement.

The group is urging a moratorium on shut-offs one day before local utilities meet with state regulators to discuss how they plan to handle the slew of late payments and power shut-offs that will result from particularly high bills this winter. Power 4 the People will be in attendance at the Tuesday hearing, which should add some excitement to the day.

Up next, look out for a statewide petitioning campaign from the group to keep the lights on.

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At a Thursday Public Service Commission hearing, commissioners were looking to get information about why customer bills have skyrocketed this winter and how to keep customers from falling behind on their payments.

Before the hearing began, Chairman Douglas R.M. Nazarian mentioned that the hearing was for utilities and advocacy groups to discuss the problem and suggest some solutions — but it was not a forum for customers to complain.

“It’s a public hearing in the sense that everybody is invited to watch, it is not a public hearing in the sense of anyone who wants to speak today is going to be allowed to speak. We’re going to hear from parties, but we’re not going to hear from the public at large,” Nazarian said.

Despite Nazarian’s insistence that the public would not be able to discuss their personal bill issues, Read the rest of this entry »

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