Thursday, February 28, 2013
The Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order on Wednesday directing electricity companies to improve service reliability and resiliency.
Utility companies in Maryland will need to beef up efforts to improve electricity service reliability and resiliency, according to an order issued by the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The order (No. 85385) requires utility providers to do the following: More than 760,000 of BGE's 1.2 million customers lost power at the peak of electricity outages after the derecho; some Elkridge customers were in the dark for a week. The PSC is also investigating BGE's reliability in several Howard County neighborhoods as the result of a grass-roots effort led by residents who say they have dealt with unreliability for years. In July, BGE requested a rate increase to make “essential upgrades, with an emphasis on …
Wednesday, December 26, 2012
A windy wintry weather pattern leads state officials and BGE to urge caution, preparedness.
The State Highway Administration (SHA) and Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. (BGE) are warning residents that high winds, cold temperatures and icy roads may cause troubles Thursday. The National Weather Service is forecasting freezing rain overnight into Thursday morning as well as fog and temperatures in the mid- to high-30s. Winds are expected to pick up speed into Thursday, when gusts could approach 50 mph. "When you step out and see ice on your doorstep, you can assume that roads will be icy as well," SHA Administrator Melinda Peters said in a statement. Those icy conditions could make rush hour roads dangerous, according to the SHA, so crews will be hitting the streets early. “Stay off the roads early tomorrow morning, so that SHA …
Monday, October 29, 2012
Marylanders without power number 75,000 as Sandy picks up speed and intensity.
Hurricane Sandy is expected to make landfall between 8 and 10 p.m. Monday, Gov. Martin O’Malley said in a 5 p.m. press conference. The number of Maryland residents without power reached 75,000 just after 5 p.m., O’Malley said at Maryland Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Reisterstown. “The storm is becoming stronger in her center with 90 mile an hour winds,” O’Malley said. “The good news is she’s moving faster.” If the storms continue to move fast, it may be in Maryland for a shorter time than the originally predicted 24 to 36 hours, O’Malley said. In addition to power outages, the number of which will increase, the state is monitoring flooding. Five to six inches of rain have already fallen, and another six inches is expected to…
Additionally, bridges will close and early voting tomorrow is canceled, Gov. Martin O’Malley said Monday afternoon.
As Hurricane Sandy arrives in Maryland, more than 24,000 state residents are without power, Gov. Martin O’Malley announced in a press briefing Monday afternoon. “This is a very, very dangerous storm and she is intensifying at her center,” he said. O'Malley reiterated that trees, poles and power lines will be knocked down. “The main message of the day is to hunker down and to stay inside,” he said. In the half-hour prior the briefing, which began just after 2 p.m., the number of Marylanders without power rose from around 1,000 to more than 24,000, O'Malley said at Maryland Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Reisterstown. One person died in a weather-related car crash in Montgomery County around 11:30 a.m. Monday, The Washington …
Gov. Martin O’Malley urged Marylanders to stay inside for the next 36 hours and said the storm will take lives as it moves through Maryland.
Gov. Martin O’Malley said Marylanders will die as Hurricane Sandy moves through the state. “The days ahead are going to be very difficult,” he said in a press conference at Maryland Emergency Management Agency headquarters in Reisterstown Monday morning. “There will be people who will die and are killed in the storm.” He urged residents to stay off the roads and stay inside for the next 24 to 36 hours. High winds are anticipated for the Baltimore-Washington area by the early afternoon, O’Malley said. He expects power outages to start this afternoon and this evening. “There will be many trees that will go down and there will be many power lines that will go down,” he said. The storm has intensified in the past 12 hours, the governor said. “…
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
The approaching weather looks hazardous, according to the National Weather Service.
Strong showers and thunderstorms are on the way, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), and they may bring with them additional severe weather. In its hazardous weather statement, NWS warns that the approaching storms may cause localized flash flooding, damaging winds and even isolated tornadoes. NWS issued a tornado watch for eastern and central Maryland counties at 10:55 a.m. this morning. The worst of the storms is expected Tuesday afternoon – sometime between noon and 6 p.m., according to NWS. In a statement issued Tuesday morning, Baltimore Gas and Electric Company (BGE) wrote that wind gusts could damage overhead and underground equipment, causing power outages. "As BGE and our field crews prepare to respond to weather-…
Friday, September 14, 2012
But at a hearing with the PSC, the chief executive officer supported the utility's decision to withhold information from officials to protect customers' privacy.
The chief executive officer of BGE told the state’s utilities regulator on Thursday that the only way to shorten the length of major power outages would be to have a “very different delivery system,” the Baltimore Sun reports. BGE CEO Kenneth W. DeFontes Jr. was speaking at a Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) hearing, scheduled after more than 760,000 Maryland residents lost power in the wake of the late-June derecho storm. At the hearing, which is standard procedure after “major outage events,” DeFontes reportedly told regulators that BGE would need to bury some power lines–and more aggressively trim trees–to prevent more long-term outages. After June’s derecho, customers who lost power were in the dark for an average of 38 hours…
Thursday, July 19, 2012
The National Weather Service is again forecasting severe weather in Howard County.
The severe thunderstorm watches and warnings may have subsided for now, but don’t be surprised if they pop up later today. There’s a 50 percent chance that Howard County will see rain and thunderstorms today, according to the National Weather Service, and an even likelier chance that storms will roll in this evening. “No watch as of now …” the NWS forecast discussion reads, “Will continue to contemplate.” In its hazardous weather outlook, NWS warns that storms that do develop again have the potential to be dangerous with high winds and localized, flash flooding. Precipitation aside, we can expect temperatures to reach the high 80s/low 90s today and drop to the mid-70s this evening. Yesterday's brush with severe weather knocked power out …
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
BGE and Pepco will reportedly be able to charge a fee for losses suffered when power was out to hundreds of thousands after the June 29 storm.
This story was updated to include comments from BGE. BGE and Pepco are allowed to recoup some of the money lost after the severe storm June 29 by charging a fee to be paid by customers who were without power, 9 News Now reported. "It's the law," Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey told 9 News Now. "It's called bill stabilization." Should bill stabilization result from a storm-induced power outage? Tell us in the comments. "The storm adjustment kicks in automatically,"Maryland Public Service Commission spokeswoman Regina Davis told 9 News Now. "The BSA (Bill Stabilization Adjustment) is calculated and applied by the companies, but checked by PSC staff and we make the utilities correct it if they get it wrong." The charge, BGE Spokesman Rob Gould …
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
In a letter to the utilities' regulatory agency, leaders of seven jurisdictions outline changes they said need to be made in light of the power failures during the derecho storm.
Less than two weeks after a massive storm disabled power to more than three quarters of a million Maryland residents, elected leaders wrote in a letter to a state regulatory agency that utility companies need to improve their performance and disclose critical outage information when government agencies request it. In the letter to the Public Service Commission, officials urged the regulatory agency to consider changes to the way utilities operate, including burying some power lines underground, mandatory staffing levels and improved disclosure of outage information to local municipal officials. The letter was signed by Howard County Executive Ken Ulman, Baltimore City Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, and the executives of Anne Arundel, …
Dave A.
10:23 am on Friday, March 1, 2013
This is another joke and attempt to make it look like Government is Governing... I know who lose power in EVERY STORM in Ellicott City... And it takes 3 or more days to restore it! Want to impress me? Fix the small loop of about 10-15 homes on Brittany Drive and Brittany Circle in Stonecrest! more ›