O'Malley taps $5 million for BGE customers

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ANNAPOLIS -- Gov. Martin O'Malley said yesterday that the state will make available an additional $5 million to Marylanders struggling to pay their electric bills, after a 50 percent rate increase by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.

Mr. O'Malley, a Democrat, said the money will enable 3,000 more families to receive assistance.

The state's energy-assistance program has been increased to $57 million for people who meet the income-eligibility requirement of 175 percent of the federal poverty line. Mr. O'Malley said that equates to roughly $40,000 in annual income for a family of four.

"There are very few issues that are more challenging to Maryland's future and all of us than the issue of energy costs, electric rates and the challenges that they pose for all of us," he said.

The announcement was made two days after the governor named Malcolm Woolf to lead the Maryland Energy Administration. Mr. Woolf has been asked to help develop policies that will "empower consumers to have a greater control of their own destiny in this world of rising energy costs," Mr. O'Malley said.

Mr. Woolf was most recently director of the National Governors Association's Natural Resources Committee, which shapes federal policy on energy, agriculture, the environment and natural resources, according to the O'Malley administration. He was appointed by Mr. O'Malley just days after the increase went into effect. The Maryland Public Service Commission reluctantly approved the increase last month, after failing to find a legal alternative.

The commission's inability to defer or reduce the rate rise has been a disappointment for Mr. O'Malley, who described the increase as "a terrible jolt that we have inherited and been saddled with."

He criticized the commission during his campaign last year for being too cozy with utility companies. When he took office, he moved quickly to replace the chairman and name two other members to the five-member board, in hopes of finding some way to stem the rate increase.

He also vowed during his campaign to try to find an alternative to the increases, then recently apologized for failing.

Now that the new commission has failed to stop the increase, Mr. O'Malley is searching for other ways to lessen the shock. He tried to do so yesterday by allowing people to apply for assistance immediately. The rate increase will affect about 1 million customers.