OPC urges action, offers recommendations, to advance Future of Gas proceeding
BALTIMORE – State regulators should take immediate action to address the rising customer costs and future risks of the gas utilities’ massive spending on pipelines and other infrastructure, the Office of People’s Counsel said in a filing with the Public Service Commission today. More than two years have passed with little progress since OPC filed its request for the Commission to open a proceeding to align gas utility operations and planning with economic realities and State policy. New developments highlight the urgency of action, OPC said.
“This winter’s gas bills showed the devastating impacts of accelerated gas infrastructure spending,” Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp said. “That spending has led to rate increases and economic distress for Marylanders. The Commission should take quick action to curb those rate increases and make sure gas utilities operate in the short- and long-term interests of customers.”
The State’s three largest gas utilities have spent more than $1.4 billion on infrastructure since OPC filed its petition in February 2023, and they show no signs of letting up, OPC’s filing explained. New legislation—which Governor Moore is expected to sign into law—requires gas utilities to show that their spending benefits customers and that they have analyzed cost-effective alternatives to gas infrastructure investments. These and other developments, OPC’s filing says, “highlight the need for clarity, guidance, and immediate Commission action regarding the future of gas in the State.”
Since OPC filed its petition in 2023, the only actions in the proceeding have been a public comment period in October 2023, and a two-day legislative-style hearing at the Commission in July 2024, OPC’s filing pointed out.
OPC’s filing focuses on “priority” actions the Commission can and should take in the short term to address the rising costs of gas spending. Among them:
- Reviewing existing gas infrastructure replacement plans for compliance with the new legislation;
- Requiring that utilities analyze the value of proposed replacement projects over time relative to anticipated changes in consumption patterns due to electric competition and policy initiatives;
- Directing the gas companies to demonstrate why they should not eliminate subsidies for new gas lines;
- Initiating a comprehensive review of gas company public communications that serve to promote gas over electric and other technologies;
- Ending gas company policies that make it harder for customers to electrify and disconnect from the gas system; and
- Ruling on the viability and cost-effectiveness of “gas-as-backup” approaches to building decarbonization, including the use of natural gas alternatives like hydrogen.
Aside from near-term priority actions, OPC’s 2023 petition asked the Commission to establish a track for long-term gas utility planning that aligns operations and infrastructure investments with customer needs and State policy. To advance this long-term need, OPC’s filing outlines reporting requirements the Commission should adopt for gas utilities that will enable informed decisions on future plans.
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents Maryland’s residential consumers of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, private water and certain transportation matters before the Public Service Commission, federal regulatory agencies and the courts.
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