Baltimore resident Zattura Sims-El has been struggling to pay her gas and electric bill from Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE).

“I feel like I’m being held hostage,” said Sims-El on Feb. 20 at a Baltimore City Council informational hearing on BGE rates, the first of several to be held on the matter. “I’ve lived in my home for more than 46 years. My husband and I raised our family there. My husband has passed on. I’m in my home alone. I only have Social Security money to pay my expenses.”

Sims-El explained that since December 2024, her bills have surged from $390.50 to $784.18 in January and $975.22 in February.

“I cannot afford to pay these bills; they’re not sustainable,” she said. “I had to pull savings to pay the $784.18 bill. I had to make arrangements to pay the $975.22 bill, after I gave a deposit.”

“I get my Social Security check the third Wednesday of the month,” she continued. “If my Social Security check comes after the due date, I was told that that would nullify my agreement. I would have to pay the total of whatever is due at once.”

Allan Johnson, 49, also shared his concern with the City Council, revealing his February bill of $1,453.04.

“We make too much money for assistance,” said Johnson. “Two parents working together, full time…we make just too much money.”

Johnson asked for help with the bill, which is due on Feb. 28.

Council President Zeke Cohen (D) addressed the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) during the hearing, calling on them to “end the multi-year rate pilot and to ensure the cancellation of BGE’s planned 2026 rate increase.”

“We’re also calling on BGE to be the partner that Baltimore deserves by providing meaningful rate relief to our residents,” said Cohen.

The PSC approved a multi-year rate increase for BGE in 2023, which, if completed, would spread more than $400 million in rate increases over three years – 2024, 2025 and 2026. City Council members pointed to this choice as the cause of the high prices, but BGE officials argued otherwise.

“You may remember in December and January, some particularly cold days,” said Charles Washington Jr., vice president of Governmental and External Affairs of BGE. “As a specific example, our customers used 20 percent more energy this January than they did the previous January.”

Washington also noted that “a large list of governmental taxes and fees” contributed to the increases.

Representatives from the PSC were not present but shared their response to the hearing.

“The commission is in the midst of a ‘lessons learned’ proceeding regarding BGE’s multi-year rate plan,” said Toni Leonard, a PSC communications director. “The commission is reviewing those filings to determine the appropriate next steps.”

During the hearing BGE highlighted their recent initiatives to assist customers who cannot afford their bills.

“Since January, going through April, we are showing up in communities, and we have over 70 community meetings scheduled or already completed,” said Washington. “There are also programs that we’ve worked on to help assist our customers with budget bills, setting up payment arrangements, extending due dates, waiving late fees and suspending disconnections.”

In previous AFRO reporting by D. Kevin McNeir, BGE’s senior manager of communications, Nick Alexopulos addressed “concerns that BGE’s multi-year plan was responsible for higher bills and that it was not transparent.”

Alexopulos said the bills are higher because usage is higher. He also said that “BGE used to decide what work needed to be done, did it, and then went to the Public Service Commission who reviewed what we had done and then set a return on equity. But with the multi-year plan, the work we plan to do is reviewed in advance by anyone who wants to review it.”

“Parties are invited to come in, then the Commission sets a return on equity,” said Alexopulos. “After the work is done, it’s reviewed again. So, it’s reviewed twice. We see that as being more transparent than in the past.”