Maryland agencies ask federal regulators to reduce transmission profits following Utility RELIEF Act
BALTIMORE – Federal regulators should require owners of qualifying transmission lines in Maryland to immediately remove from their rates the financial incentive they currently receive for participating as a member of a regional transmission organization, Maryland state agencies said in a complaint filed at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) today.
The Office of People’s Counsel joined the Maryland Energy Administration and the Maryland Public Service Commission in filing the complaint, following the July 1st effective date of the relevant provisions of the Utility RELIEF Act.
“We appreciate the efforts of Governor Wes Moore and the General Assembly to address rising transmission rates,” Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp said. “Maryland customers are burdened by high bills and excessive utility profits. By requiring utilities to participate in a regional transmission organization, the Utility RELIEF Act makes unlawful the added profit transmission utilities currently receive from their voluntary participation in PJM, saving Maryland ratepayers more than $20 million annually.”
In June, OPC sent a letter to Maryland’s investor-owned electric companies—each of which owns qualifying transmission lines in the State and currently receives the FERC-awarded incentive—seeking their cooperation to maximize the benefits to residential ratepayers from the recently passed RELIEF Act. OPC’s letter asked the companies to voluntarily file to remove the extra profit incentive, noting that complaint proceedings would consume significant State resources and could delay change in the company’s rates—and associated relief for ratepayers. None of the utilities responded that they would cooperate.
Transmission infrastructure—the high-voltage system that delivers electricity from power plants to local utilities—is a growing and increasingly significant driver of higher electricity costs for Maryland households and businesses. OPC’s March 2026 report, PJM Transmission Cost Impacts on Electricity Customers in Maryland, found that transmission rates for Maryland utilities Baltimore Gas and Electric, Pepco, and Delmarva Power & Light have increased by a factor of five to six since 2010.
“Transmission costs get a lot less attention than capacity costs,” Lapp said, “but they account for roughly 15 percent of a residential customer’s bill, about the same as current capacity market costs. The Utility RELIEF Act provides a unique and straightforward way to reduce these costs for Maryland households.”
In May, OPC filed a complaint challenging PJM’s allocation of transmission costs primarily driven by out-of-state data centers to Maryland customers.
For more on OPC’s advocacy before FERC and PJM, visit OPC’s website.
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents Maryland’s residential consumers in 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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