The Maryland Public Service Commission must act swiftly to prevent any further utility rate increases moving forward
Push the Maryland Public Service Commission to act swiftly to prevent further utility rate increases.
Occurrences
Evidence
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Congressman Mfume said, “The Maryland Public Service Commission must act swiftly to prevent any further utility rate increases moving forward...” in a press release about a March 12, 2026 Maryland delegation meeting on energy affordability and reliability.
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The press release frames this as part of Mfume’s “Costs Down, Opportunity Up” affordability agenda and says he is working with Team Maryland and the Governor on solutions to lower utility rates.
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Mfume’s office maintains a utilities assistance resources page listing Baltimore City and Maryland utility assistance and protection programs, indicating continued constituent-facing attention to utility cost burdens.
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Mfume's office said he and Maryland delegation members met with leaders from the Maryland Public Service Commission, Maryland Energy Administration, Maryland Office of People's Counsel, and PJM to discuss lowering electricity costs and grid reliability. Mfume said the PSC "must act swiftly" to prevent further utility rate increases.
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Mfume said working families could not wait for another study, plan, or proposal on rising electricity costs and criticized regulators for failing to regulate while providers continued to make large profits.
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The Maryland PSC states its mission is safe, reliable, and economic public utility service and says it regulates gas, electric, telephone, water, sewage disposal companies, electricity suppliers, and energy generating facilities and high-voltage transmission lines.
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The PSC proceedings dashboard listed active rate cases for Potomac Electric Power Company filed October 14, 2025 and Washington Gas filed December 29, 2025, both at the filing-of-briefs/proposed-order stage as of the page viewed near July 2, 2026.
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The PSC announced a third public hearing on Washington Gas Light's proposal to increase Maryland gas distribution rates. The company sought $82.5 million in annual revenues and said the design would increase the average residential total bill by about 5.3%; a PSC decision was due July 27, 2026.
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The enacted Utility RELIEF Act provides that the PSC may not approve a requested base-rate increase based on a forecast test year until completion of a required proceeding or April 1, 2027, whichever is later.
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The Utility RELIEF Act requires large-load customer rate schedules to protect residential retail electric customers from financial risks and to allocate increased transmission, capacity, and other costs caused by those large-load customers to those customers where the PSC determines attribution is appropriate.
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The PSC initiated Public Conference 80 to implement the Utility RELIEF Act's $100 million grant and credit process, directing electric utilities to file implementation plans by August 14, 2026; the notice says funds are to be distributed in equal monthly amounts during calendar year 2027.
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Mfume's office maintains a utilities assistance page listing Baltimore water-bill assistance, Maryland Office of Home Energy Programs help, Utility Service Protection Program protections, EmPOWER low-income energy efficiency assistance, and BGE bill-credit programs.
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The Maryland PSC authorized about a $50.9 million Pepco revenue increase, less than half of Pepco's requested $119.876 million increase; average residential bill impacts were reduced from the requested $10.24 per month to $3.94 per month, and the new rates went into effect the same day.
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The Maryland PSC announced that BGE filed a rate case seeking a $156 million electric base-rate increase, projected at about $8 per month for the average customer; the PSC said current BGE rates are frozen until a decision, expected in January 2027.
Assessments
Mfume materially pursued the promise in office by meeting with Maryland PSC and related state/PJM officials and publicly urging the PSC to act swiftly against further utility rate increases. However, the record does not show the promised prevention of further increases: PSC rate cases remained pending, Pepco received a reduced but still positive rate increase, and related state relief/structural measures only partially constrained or mitigated rate growth. This supports partial credit for advocacy and some policy progress, not full delivery.
The promise was framed as a federal representative's advocacy/oversight commitment to push a state regulator, not as a pledge to directly control Maryland PSC decisions. During the same House term, Mfume and Maryland delegation members met with PSC and related energy officials, and Mfume publicly urged the PSC to act swiftly to prevent further utility rate increases. That satisfies the promised federal-office action. The record does not prove all later rate increases were prevented, but that was the object of the push rather than something a federal House member could unilaterally deliver.
The evidence shows Mfume clearly advocated for the Maryland Public Service Commission to act quickly and participated in a March 2026 delegation meeting focused on energy affordability and reliability. That supports that he made a real oversight effort during his current term. However, the record provided does not show that the Maryland PSC actually took the requested action or that further utility rate increases were prevented. Because this promise is about pushing an outside state regulator to act, advocacy alone is not enough to count as delivered, but the available evidence is also insufficient to conclude it definitively failed. Therefore the best fit is unresolved, with credit for meaningful effort in the same term.