The cold temperatures have brought skyrocketing utility bills. Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz has this report.
RUSH: In this frigid winter, many electric power customers on the Eastern Shore and beyond have been watching their home heating bills rise with alarm. A close look reveals that it's not just about the kilowatt hours that they use, but also where they come from and how they get to you. Delmarva Public Media's Kevin Diaz has this report.
DIAZ: If you think you're seeing double when you look at your utility bill, you're not alone. Social media is popping with complaints.
YOUTUBE CLIP 1: Our bill was $810 a month. Last month, it was $206.
YOUTUBE CLIP 2: The utilities are going through the roof. I don't see it getting any better.
YOUTUBE CLIP 3: We're paying $985 for electric bill in a house we don't even live in.
DIAZ: Officials in the Maryland Public Service Commissions' [Consumer Affairs Division] tell Delmarva Public Media that complaints about high utility rates have increased more than 79 percent over the past year. Analysts say that's mostly because the cost of delivering electricity has risen significantly in recent years. Excessive cold or hot temperatures also drive up your bill, and as the song goes, baby, it's cold outside.
IRBY: Looks like it's been the longest, most prolonged cold snap we've had in about 20 years. For utilities, that usually adds up to higher bills.
DIAZ: That's Lauren Irby of the Delaware Electric Cooperative, [a nonprofit utility].
IRBY: If you have a car, your car's going to use more fuel when it's having to go uphill.
DIAZ: But it's not all about the cold. Check your bill closely. You'll see there's more to it than the kilowatts you use. It's about the cost to deliver the electricity to your home, and that cost has been rising too.
FOXWELL: There's the amount that you pay, which is directly tied to your usage volume.
DIAZ: This is Len Foxwell, an influential political analyst on the Eastern Shore, speaking with The Talbot Spy.org
FOXWELL: And then there's a section called distribution charges, and that lower category, distribution, is flat. It's constant, and it's not based on how much you actually use. That is the loophole, if you will, through which BG&E and these other major companies actually...well, it's a catchall for all their quote infrastructure costs.
DIAZ: Those infrastructure costs are passed on to consumers. Since 2020, Delmarva Powers' delivery charges to pay for the distribution system; the poles, the wires, et cetera, not the electricity itself have increased 25% according to the Maryland Office of People's Council. Then there's the electricity, little of which is produced in Maryland or on the eastern shore. In fact, Maryland imports about 40% of its electricity from out of state. Here's Amber Perry, regional president for Pepco and Delmarva Power in Maryland.
PERRY: We don't generate power here at Delmarva Power. We actually need to purchase power from generators. That, and we do it in an auction, an annual auction process, and so we're looking for the most competitive rate of power to secure that power for our customers.
DIAZ: The wholesale market is run by PJM Interconnection, which provides electricity for about 67 million people across 13 states and the District of Columbia. As demand grows across the Mid-Atlantic region, so does the wholesale price. Here's Lauren Irby.
IRBY: The power market is kind of like a stock market too. There's supply and demand, and when everyone's using a lot of electricity, like when everybody's cranking their thermostats because it's cold, not only are you using more electricity in your home, but it's more expensive to buy because everybody's using it at the same time.
DIAZ: Unfortunately, Maryland is on the wrong side of that supply and demand equation. Maryland just committed itself to a green energy future, but alternatives such as wind and solar, which face political headwinds, have yet to catch up with the energy losses from shuttering traditional power plants. Maryland Governor Wes Moore recently unveiled a plan to combat rising utility costs with a mix of infrastructure upgrades and family rebates. But critics say it comes nowhere near to solving the state's underlying energy imbalance. Meanwhile, the complaints about skyrocketing utility bills keep pouring in. For Delmarva Public Media, this is Kevin Diaz.
