Governor Opposes Electricity Rate Plan

Ehrlich Calls Public Hearing to Review General Assembly's Utilities Proposal

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. appears poised to reject the electricity rate relief plan produced by the General Assembly in the special session he convened, despite support for the proposal from power companies and some fellow Republicans.

In media appearances throughout the day, Ehrlich blasted the measure that lawmakers cobbled together in a marathon day of work that ended in the pre-dawn hours yesterday and took the unusual step of calling a public hearing to discuss the plan.

"Clearly I don't like what they've done," the governor said during a morning talk radio interview. Later, he gathered reporters in front of his official residence and called the legislature's end product "very disturbing."

The scene had a familiar feel for a governor who, more than three years into his term, has turned the legislature into an ever-present political foil. First on the issue of slot machine gambling, then in a tense standoff over medical malpractice reforms, Ehrlich has chosen clash over compromise.

"I have a very hard head" is a favorite retort from Ehrlich, a former college football linebacker.

This time, although it appears Ehrlich's approach will be no different, Democrats and even some Republicans are questioning the wisdom of stoking a conflict on such a combustible issue.

The electricity rate crisis entered the public domain in March, when state regulators signed off on a plan by Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to increase its rates by 72 percent this summer. Pepco's rates have gone up about 39 percent, but most of the legislative attention has focused on BGE.

A first attempt to spread out the increase fell apart on the legislature's final day in April. The governor attempted to broker a deal, but a Baltimore Circuit Court judge threw it out.

On Wednesday, the legislature convened to take another stab at the issue, and veto-proof majorities in both the House and Senate approved the plan to limit the BGE rate increase to 15 percent for most of the first year, fire the state's utility regulators and overhaul the system for buying energy. Ehrlich believes dismissing the regulators would destabilize the energy market and could lead to higher prices.

But Del. Patrick L. McDonough (R-Baltimore County) called it a political miscalculation for Ehrlich to reject the legislative solution, even if it has elements the governor doesn't like.

"He's getting bad political advice, dividing the party and creating problems," McDonough said.

Only one of the nine House Republicans in Baltimore County, a political battleground this year, voted against yesterday's proposal, which McDonough defended as "a great pro-consumer bill that gives real teeth to the Public Service Commission."