Maryland electricity supply so low, out-of-state power needed after leaders shut 8 power plants

Opponents of Maryland elected officials' energy-choking Green New Deal policies have been vindicated on two fronts as the new year gets underway. Among the arguments made by businesses, energy companies, and Republicans in the Maryland General Assembly was that monthly utility bills would rise for Maryland residents. Sure enough, late last week, electric utility Pepco informed customers that their bills would rise at least 5% beginning this month, due to Maryland officials' approval of a new surcharge on electric and gas utilities last year. Maryland Green New Deal opponents also predicted that legislators' plan to force the closure of 8 power plants across the state, and require electricity to increasingly be purchased from "green" sources, would not only add to rate hikes, but reduce the state's electricity supply. Now we have confirmation that Maryland's electricity supply has fallen so low, and so inadequate to meet demand, that more electricity will have to be imported from out-of-state at great cost.

PJM, which operates Maryland's electric grid, has contracted with the Public Service Enterprise Group to construct a new, 70-mile power line through Carroll, Frederick, and Baltimore counties. The estimated cost of construction will be $424 million, The Washington Post reported. PSEG stated in a press release that Maryland's electric grid will face "severe and widespread reliablity issues as determined by PJM" if the new power line is not constructed. PJM Vice-President Paul McGlynn cited the retirement of the eight Maryland power plants as the reason out-of-state power is now needed, as demand simultaneously rises.

McGlynn predicted that Maryland electric utility customers would experience "extreme conditions such as system collapse and blackouts if [the lack of electricity supply is] not addressed." This is exactly what opponents of Maryland officials' Green New Deal predicted would happen, and has already been experienced by customers in California and many developing countries like Cuba. 

The shuttered Gen On power plant in Dickerson, MD

One would be on solid ground in making a new prediction: that out-of-state power will be more expensive than power generated in Maryland, and certainly more expensive than that formerly generated by the eight coal-fired power plants our elected officials shut down statewide in recent years. Those "boardwalk prices," like the new EmPOWER MD surcharge, will be passed onto ratepayers. 

Our elected officials are clueless about how the business world works, as evidenced by their failure to attract major corporate headquarters to Maryland this century. But they don't even understand that new costs and taxes on business aren't paid by corporations; they are passed on to customers in the form of higher prices.

The new power line may wind up crossing farmland and sensitive environmental areas, which has raised opposition to the proposal by groups such as Stop MPRP. PSEG said that its current proposed route for the power line was chosen because it would have the least such impacts, and avoid passing near as many homes and businesses as possible. The irony is that the disruptive new power line might not have been necessary if the eight power plants had been allowed to continue operating, and if Maryland elected officials had spent less time on woke virtue-signaling legislation, and more time exploring construction of new nuclear plants instead of ineffective and costly wind power. 

We've seen how dereliction of duty by our elected officials can have negative knock-on effects down the road in the past, with our unfinished freeway system. Cancellation of the new Potomac River crossing connecting the InterCounty Connector with the Dulles area in Virginia, the Rockville Freeway, and the M-83 Highway resulted in more recent proposals for widening I-495 and I-270 that would impact or demolish homes along those interstates. If those master plan highways had been built, the recent Express Lanes proposal would not have been necessary.

Instead, the Maryland Green New Deal energy policies that have yet to have any major impact on climate change or air quality could wind up causing actual negative impacts on the environment in Carroll, Frederick, and Baltimore counties. Despite closing eight power plants, Maryland's spikes in ozone and particle pollution "are the worst they've been in 25 years," the American Lung Association reported in 2024. Heckuva job, Brownie!