Baltimore business energy: BGE, two fuels

One utility delivers both fuels, and the Commission licenses each side

Baltimore is the only market covered here where the same investor-owned utility brings both fuels to the door. BGE is the electric distribution utility and the gas distribution utility for Baltimore City, the surrounding county, Anne Arundel, most of Howard, Carroll and Harford counties, and parts of Prince George's, Montgomery and Calvert counties. The practical consequence is that a Baltimore energy file has two halves with one delivery counterparty, and the annual review has to be run twice because the two commodities move on different clocks. The Maryland Public Service Commission administers the two supplier programmes separately: the Commission's own site maintains an Electric Choice supplier portal and a Gas Choice supplier portal, publishes electric choice enrolment reports, and takes a separate application for a licence to supply gas. A company licensed to sell electricity in the state is not thereby licensed to sell gas. The Commission also maintains a service for verifying an electric supplier's name and contact details against the licensed list, which is worth using before anything is signed. Whoever supplies the commodity, the meter, the outage response and the delivery tariff stay with BGE, and the delivery tariff is set in a Commission rate case rather than by a supplier.

• BGE is the distribution utility for both electricity and gas in Baltimore.
• The Public Service Commission runs Electric Choice and Gas Choice as separate programmes with separate supplier portals.
• A licence to supply electricity does not carry a licence to supply gas; the gas application is separate.
• Delivery, metering and outage response stay with BGE whatever a competitive supplier sells.
• The delivery tariff is approved by the Commission in a rate case and is unaffected by a supply switch.

The bill is distribution plus supply, and Maryland's charges sit in between

A BGE bill separates into distribution and supply, and only one of the two is contestable. Distribution is the utility's regulated charge for the poles, wires, pipes and meters, set in a tariff the Commission approves; supply is the commodity and the capacity behind it, which is what a competitive supplier sells. On the electric side the supply block is not a single number, since energy and transmission are typically itemised separately, so a supplier's quote covers a defined part of what appears on the bill rather than the whole of it, and the same split runs through the gas side. Two charges on the page are Maryland's rather than BGE's, and both are easy to fold into the wrong half of a comparison. The EmPOWER Maryland surcharge funds the state's energy efficiency programmes; the Commission describes them as established by the EmPOWER Maryland Energy Efficiency Act of 2008, met statewide by 2015, and then rebuilt by 2017 legislation around an annual energy savings goal of two percent of gross energy sales, delivered through programmes the utilities run for electric and gas customers alike. Because the surcharge is collected through the utility bill and pays for programmes rather than for the energy a site consumes, no supply switch changes it. The practical point is that a comparison built from the headline lines of a bill can miss a charge that is genuinely on it, which is why the bill itself, rather than a summary, is the reference.

• Distribution and supply are the two halves of a BGE bill, and only supply is contestable.
• Distribution is set in a Commission-approved tariff and does not change when a supplier does.
• Energy and transmission are typically itemised separately inside the supply block.
• The EmPOWER Maryland surcharge funds the state's efficiency programmes and is collected through the utility bill.
• The Commission describes EmPOWER as created by the 2008 Act and rebuilt in 2017 around a two percent annual energy savings goal.
• A comparison built from headline lines can miss a charge that is on the bill, so the bill is the reference.

Standard Offer Service is the benchmark, and it is procured rather than posted

A Baltimore account that has never shopped is served at Standard Offer Service, the default supply the Commission arranges for customers who have not chosen a competitive supplier. The Commission names it as a distinct function on its own site, keeps the electric choice enrolment reports that show how many accounts have actually left it, and the rate itself is set through BGE's supply procurement and then published by the utility. For a business the useful discipline is to compare supply against supply at the account's own consumption and on the same term. Standard Offer Service is a supply price for the class; a competitive offer is a supply price for the same volumes over a stated period. Delivery, the EmPOWER surcharge and the monthly customer charge fall on neither side of that comparison, because no switch changes any of them. That is also why a headline saving measured against a whole bill is not the same thing as a saving on the supply block, and why the account's twelve-month usage is the number that makes the two offers comparable.

• Standard Offer Service is the default supply for customers who have not chosen a supplier.
• The Commission publishes electric choice enrolment reports showing how many accounts have left it.
• The rate is set through the utility's procurement and then published.
• Compare supply to supply, at the account's own twelve-month usage, on the same term length.
• Delivery, the EmPOWER surcharge and the customer charge are outside the comparison.

The city's larger buildings carry a reporting duty, and then a performance standard

Baltimore's building stock is heavy with exactly the class of building Maryland now regulates. The Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, enacted as Chapter 38 of the 2022 Laws of Maryland, put statewide Building Energy Performance Standards in place, and the statute's own definition of a covered building is the place to start. A covered building is a commercial or multifamily residential building in the state, or a building owned by the state, with a gross floor area of 35,000 square feet or more, excluding parking garage area. The statute carves out four classes: a building designated a historic property under federal, state or local law, a public or nonpublic elementary or secondary school building, a manufacturing building, and an agricultural building. Reporting comes before performance. The statute directs the department to require the owners of covered buildings and schools to measure and report using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager or another benchmarking tool the department designates, annually beginning in 2025. The standards themselves bite later. Regulations were due by 1 June 2023 and have to include energy use intensity targets by building type, with room for special provisions covering building age, regional differences, and particular occupancy types the statute names, among them health care facilities, laboratories, assisted living and nursing facilities, military buildings, critical infrastructure and life-sciences buildings. The direction of travel is written into the same section: net-zero direct greenhouse gas emissions on or before 1 January 2040. An operator who has just been asked for building data by a lender or a tenant is usually holding a reporting obligation rather than a voluntary exercise.

• The Building Energy Performance Standards come from the Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022, enacted as Chapter 38 of the 2022 Laws of Maryland.
• A covered building is commercial or multifamily residential, or owned by the state, with a gross floor area of 35,000 square feet or more, excluding parking garage area.
• The statutory exclusions are historic-designated buildings, public and nonpublic elementary and secondary schools, manufacturing buildings and agricultural buildings.
• Owners of covered buildings and schools must measure and report using ENERGY STAR Portfolio Manager or a tool the department designates, annually beginning in 2025.
• Regulations were due by 1 June 2023, with energy use intensity targets by building type and special provisions for named occupancies including health care and laboratories.
• The stated direction of travel is net-zero direct greenhouse gas emissions on or before 1 January 2040.

The gas half is a winter purchase, and the therm is the unit of account

Maryland runs Gas Choice alongside Electric Choice, and the arithmetic on that side is driven by weather rather than by the clock. Gas is billed in therms, the distribution charge and the EmPOWER gas surcharge are quoted per therm, and a heating-led Baltimore site can consume several times more therms in a winter month than in a summer one. A supplier quoting on annual volume alone therefore spreads the price across months that do not resemble each other, and the only check that means anything is the site's own monthly therm history: split the twelve months into the heating season and the rest, and see how much of the annual volume sits in the four or five coldest months. That share is what a winter event costs the account. It also decides whether a fixed price per therm for a term is worth more than an indexed one, because a fixed price is a hedge against a winter spike and an indexed price is an acceptance of it. The three components worth separating on the gas bill are the commodity, the distribution charge and the surcharges, because a supplier competes only on the first.

• Gas is billed in therms, with distribution and the EmPOWER gas surcharge quoted per therm.
• Compute the winter share from the site's own twelve-month therm history before judging any offer.
• A fixed price per therm is a hedge against a winter spike; an indexed one passes it through.
• Separate the commodity from the distribution charge and the surcharges when comparing.
• A supplier competes on the commodity line only, and the delivery tariff is unchanged by the choice.

What to assemble before a Baltimore quote

Because the two fuels arrive from one utility and are shopped separately, the clean way to prepare is two files. On the electric side, take the rate schedule and the service voltage from the bill, twelve months of kilowatt-hour usage with the demand readings if the schedule is demand-metered, the current contract end date and the notice period in the agreement rather than on the invoice, and the account and meter numbers. On the gas side, take twelve months of therms by month so that the winter share can be computed, the schedule printed on the bill, and the account number. The two commodities sit on separate service agreements with the same utility, so a renewal or an inquiry on one does not move the other, and the notice dates rarely line up. Check whether the building is covered by the state performance standards before the next June date, because a benchmarking report is due whether or not anyone is shopping for supply. HighGround works as an advisor-assisted channel rather than a rate table, sourcing electricity and gas supply through the Broker Online Exchange supplier network. HighGround may receive provider compensation on completed purchases, and an inquiry places no order and switches no supplier.

• Electric: rate schedule, service voltage, twelve months of kWh with demand readings, and the contract's end date and notice period.
• Gas: twelve months of therms split by month, and the schedule printed on the bill.
• Account and meter numbers for both commodities, since they are two service agreements.
• Whether the building clears 35,000 square feet and therefore carries the annual benchmarking report.
• Competitive supply depends on the service address, the meter and the utility territory; municipal utilities, cooperatives and some jurisdictions have no choice at all.
• HighGround may receive provider compensation on completed purchases, and an inquiry places no order and switches no supplier.

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