Most utility energy efficiency programs within budget and on track to hit pollution reduction goals, OPC analysis shows
BALTIMORE – Most Maryland utilities with EmPOWER energy efficiency programs are on track to meet their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals at a lower cost than the utilities projected, according to an analysis the Office of People’s Counsel submitted last week to the Public Service Commission. EmPOWER programs generated energy efficiency savings in the first half of 2025 at a cost of 5.9 cents per kilowatt hour—well below the cost of delivered electricity, OPC found.
“Measures that reduce energy consumption—such as weatherization and replacing old appliances with modern, efficient appliances—are a great way to reduce energy bills,” said Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp. “Efficiency measures available through the utilities’ State-mandated EmPOWER programs can help ratepayers cut costs, alleviating the impacts of increasing utility distribution rates as well as the growing impacts data centers are having on utility bills.”
Through EmPOWER programs, funded through a surcharge on customers’ utility bills, participating utilities—Baltimore Gas and Electric Company, Delmarva Power & Light Company, Potomac Electric Power Company, The Potomac Edison Company, Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative, and Washington Gas Light Company (WGL)—offer programs ranging from appliance rebates to home energy audits that are designed to both reduce GHG emissions and help utility customers cut energy costs.
In the past, the Commission has evaluated the “success” of each utility’s EmPOWER program by reviewing how much energy each utility’s program has saved customers. OPC’s detailed analysis of EmPOWER program performance, prepared with the assistance of technical experts at VEIC, is OPC’s first analysis to address performance following the EmPOWER program’s transition from energy savings goals to GHG reduction goals after the General Assembly’s enactment of House Bill 864 (2024). The analysis is based on the first reporting period in which utilities must detail their progress toward meeting statutorily mandated GHG reduction goals.
In a separate analysis filed the same day, OPC evaluated WGL’s Commission-required alternative EmPOWER program proposal that does not include incentives for installing new gas appliances. This analysis found that WGL can meet its statutorily mandated GHG reduction goal without incentives for new gas appliances and should be able to do so without added costs. If WGL provided funding to incentivize just 5,000 homes in its service territory to switch to basic air source heat pumps, it could achieve the same lifetime emissions reductions and likely fall far below its proposed budget, OPC’s analysis shows. Baltimore Gas and Electric no longer incentivizes gas appliances, and other states and the District of Columbia have eliminated or are phasing out gas appliance incentives.
“The Commission should order WGL to discontinue gas appliance incentives before the new year,” Lapp said. “Those incentives lock customers in to paying escalating gas distribution rates for the life of the appliance, as long as 20 years. They also leave customers vulnerable to highly volatile gas commodity costs, while being contrary to the State’s climate goals.”
OPC’s comments also addressed the EmPOWER programs administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) for limited-income customers. DHCD is not currently on track to meet its GHG reduction goals, OPC’s comments said, but it expects an increase in customer participation rates that would help it meet its goals.
OPC encourages income-eligible customers to take advantage of DHCD’s EmPOWER programs, which are provided to eligible residential customers at no out-of-pocket cost to them. For more information about DHCD’s EmPOWER programs, please visit: https://dhcd.maryland.gov/Energy-Home-Repair/pages/homeowner-grants/empower.aspx
“Energy efficiency measures are especially critical for lower-income households with older homes and older appliances,” Lapp said. “Maryland needs to direct more funding to low-income energy efficiency from sources that do not add to utility customer bills.”
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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