OPC recommends more than $36 million in civil penalties against unlicensed rideshare business Empower
BALTIMORE – The unlicensed rideshare business Empower should be assessed more than $36 million in civil penalties, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC) said in a motion filed this week with the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC).
Empower—a rideshare company that has gained notoriety in other locations, such as D.C. and New York—has been operating in Maryland since 2021. Empower has argued that its business model keeps Empower outside the regulatory oversight of the PSC, but in January of this year, the PSC found that Empower is a “transportation network company”—a formal designation shared by other rideshare companies such as Uber and Lyft—and must submit to regulation by the PSC. Empower ignored this order.
“Customers who choose to use Empower’s services should be aware that by operating without a license, Empower evades the Commission’s oversight that is intended to make sure Empower’s drivers are properly licensed and screened and that the company’s vehicles are safe and adequately insured,” Maryland People’s Counsel David S. Lapp said. “Given that Empower claims to facilitate roughly half of all private for-hire rides in Maryland, the company’s continuing unregulated operation poses a serious risk to the public safety of Marylanders.”
In late September, the PSC ordered Empower to cease and desist operations in Maryland, an order the company ignored. Last week, the PSC ruled that the cease and desist against Empower be made permanent, the company should be fined, and the matter be referred to the Attorney General for further investigation.
In the motion filed earlier this week, OPC recommended that Empower be fined at least $36,677,500, with an additional $1,002,500 accruing each day Empower continues to operate in Maryland without a license and the potential for additional fines for yet-to-be-discovered violations.
“The bulk of our work involves protecting the interests of residential utility customers, but we also represent non-commercial customers of other PSC-regulated services, including rideshare businesses like Empower,” Lapp explained. “We have been litigating against Empower since 2024. It has been operating in blatant violation of Maryland law and PSC orders, and substantial penalties are necessary and appropriate.”
Today’s evidentiary hearing concerned penalties for the company’s continuing violations. The PSC’s technical staff stated agreement with the penalties proposed in OPC’s motion. Empower declined to attend today’s hearing.
The PSC will now consider the evidentiary record, as well as the recommendations from staff and OPC, and rule on the fine to be assessed to Empower.
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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