Thousands seek help with soaring electric bills

Anne Arundel sees sharpest increase in Maryland

By ELISHA SAUERS, Staff Writer

Published 07/13/08

Anne Arundel County has seen a staggering increase this year in the number of residents seeking state aid to pay their electric bills.

In fiscal 2008, which ended in June, 4,324 county residents applied for help, a 38-percent jump from 2007. That was the biggest increase of any county in the state.

In addition, in the first five months of this year, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. has disconnected about 12,000 of its customers statewide for failure to pay their bills, with 5,000 of them occurring in May alone. By comparison, there were 900 disconnections in May 2007.

This all comes in a summer when BGE customers are...

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Settlement - 2008-07-14 11:36:43

Uncertain financial times are upon us all...Don't forget about the Baltimore Gas and Electric Company announced that residential electric distribution customers with active accounts on Aug. 29, 2008 will receive a one-time credit of $170 on their Sept. 2008 bill, the result of a comprehensive settlement reached on March 27, 2008 with BGE, Constellation Energy, Gov. Martin O'Malley, the State of Maryland and the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC).
Small relief, but I'll take it, this might help a bit. I know that everyone has to make sacrifices, just to stay ahead. Although I am not happy about any of this, my family has cut back on AC with using fans, cooking on our charcoal grill instead of using our oven/range, cut cable, Internet and travel. We're sale shopping, clipping coupons and yard selling anything we don't need. It has been difficult to live in A.A.Co. for the last 5 years when the cost of living here doubled. I have worked two jobs for the better part of the last four years, this helped up until last year when oil and BGE prices started to increase, which every thing else followed...food, household items, clothing, everything. I am very surprised with what my family can actually live without, and I believe this has made us stronger and more self-sufficient. I pray God keeps me healthy and strong and keep me out of the charity lines, and I pray for those in the lines without any other recourse.

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