FIGHT THE HIKE!

A message from Montgomery County Councilmember Roger Berliner.

Pepco has asked the Maryland Public Service Commission to raise rates for Montgomery County residents by 10%, increasing the average resident’s bill by $15 a month!  Many residents will face even higher increases. 

We say no!  FIGHT THE HIKE!  Sign this petition that will be sent directly to the five members of the Maryland Public Service Commission and tell them to stand up for consumers, not the utility. Tell them not to force Montgomery County and Prince George’s County residents to pay one cent more than what is absolutely required by law. That is their job and we need them to do it. 

This rate request is particularly offensive given the highly-touted $50 rate credit you just received that Pepco and Exelon promised in return for approval of their merger, a merger that many of us fought hard to prevent. That paltry sum will be swallowed up in a mere 3-and-a-half months if this proposed rate increase is adopted. 

The legal standard that guides utility cost recovery is “just and reasonable.” Time and time again, Pepco has failed to meet that standard and their proposed rate increases have been very substantially reduced. There is no reason to believe this rate request is an exception. 

More fundamentally, the system for compensating utilities is anti-consumer, anti-environment, and anti-economic development. It is broken. It rewards utilities for making costly investments instead of pursuing least-cost, cleaner, distributed, and innovative solutions.

It’s clear that the system needs to be radically transformed. And I’ll be fighting before the Public Service Commission for that change. Right now, this rate hike needs to be stopped. Join me in calling on the Public Service Commission to fight for us in this important rate case.

Councilmember Roger Berliner