Pepco’s Upfront Charges Are a Big Change for Maryland

By Whitney Teal 

When you look at your monthly utility bill—a few dollars higher after Pepco earlier this month won rate increases in Maryland—know you’re a bit of a maverick.

Pepco’s grid improvement, which customers are paying for in advance of the actual work being done, is a first for the state, The Gazette reports.

Paula M. Carmody, head of the state’s Office of People's Counsel, a watchdog group for Maryland utility customers, said the policy change is a big one, the newspaper reported. Utility companies had long tried to convince state utility regulators—to no avail—that customers should pay in advance for infrastructure improvements.

Now, at least one member of the Maryland Public Service Commission fears that the proverbial floodgates are open for other utilities to be granted similar fee hikes.

Read more at The Gazette’s website.