Baltimore Gas Electric (“BGE”), serves over 1.3 million Maryland residents and businesses, but now finds itself embroiled in a fraud and discrimination scandal linked to a lawsuit with former employees.[1] Fourteen disgruntled former employees seek to intervene in BGE’s ongoing case with the Maryland Public Service Commission (“PSC”) regarding BGE’s multi-year rate plan (“MRP”) to incrementally increase its customer’s rates.[2] The PSC reviews the MRP to determine whether it requires adjustment, focusing on factors such as the justifiability of BGE’s cost increases and whether they reflect a good faith judgment.[3] Given that the rate increases directly impact a large portion of Maryland’s population, the PSC must conduct a thorough review before approving it.[4] Previous increases sparked controversy many Marylanders oppose this latest increase because it could add approximately $26 to their monthly BGE bills.[5]

Now, the former employees aim to present evidence alleging BGE’s improper actions and advocate for PSC to dismiss the MRP increase.[6] Supposedly, the evidence includes proof of forged records, revealing BGE’s failure to perform adequate assessments of gas infrastructures during the same period it justified the proposed rate increase.[7] The former employees cited BGE employee William Hamrick as an example of someone who allegedly forged his timesheets.[8] Hamrick claimed to conduct gas inspections while he actually relaxed on boat in the Eastern Shore of Maryland.[9] The former employees contend he may have falsified thousands of gas inspections.[10] Additionally, the supervisors failed to exercise proper due diligence to ensure employees were working instead of taking personal days.[11]

Furthermore, the former employees have filed a separate civil case against BGE, accusing the company of misrepresenting its records and discriminating against its Black workers.[12] The former employees allege coworkers used racially charged insults, including references to lynching and the actual act of tying a noose in front of black colleagues.[13] Without facing immediate consequences, BGE kept the coworkers employed. Retaliation followed when anyone reported the abuse.[14] The former employees also accuse BGE for passing over promoting or hiring qualified black applicants and employees, highlighting a pervasive culture of racism within the company.[15]

However, BGE denies all the allegations, asserting that they lack relevance to its PSC case.[16] BGE claims the former employees leverage the PSC case to generate media propaganda and rally public opposition against the rate increase.[17] BGE also argues that the former employees lack standing to intervene because they do not use BGE’s services.[18] Therefore, the former employees involvement causes delays and wastes taxpayer dollars.[19] The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, a vocal opponent of BGE’s MRP and rate increases, submitted a motion to permit discovery of the former employee’s claims.[20] BGE has faced scrutiny over the legitimacy of its appropriation of funds, particularly regarding whether funds genuinely support infrastructure and benefit customers.[21] Multiple lawsuits and allegations further placed BGE under the public’s microscope.[22] For example, a public interest group claimed that BGE misused funds for lobbying efforts aimed at bolstering its energy monopoly, rather than supporting cleaner energy alternatives.[23] BGE also continues to recover from the highly publicized 2020 gas explosion in Baltimore, which generated multiple lawsuits, as workers suffered injuries with lifelong consequences.[24] Therefore, public demand for greater transparency continues to grow.[25]

Consequently, the PSC must decide by spring on whether to approve the rate increase which directly impacts the greater Baltimore community.[26] Marylanders already face economic hardship due to inflation and increasing their utility bills would only worsen the situation.[27] Public concern raises for residents struggling to afford basic necessities including their utility bills.[28] Depending on the outcome of the former employees’ lawsuit, BGE may need to reassess its corporate culture and strengthen internal checks on work ethic, integrity, diversity, and inclusion to restore the public’s trust.[29]

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Morgane Barry is a third-year evening student at the University of Baltimore School of Law and a Staff Editor for Law Forum. Morgane originally hails from Raleigh, North Carolina and graduated cum laude from North Carolina State University in 2012 with an unconventional Bachelor of Science degree in Fashion and Textile Management and minor in Art and Design. Currently, Morgane has made a home for herself in Rockville, Maryland and works full time as a title agent at Legacy Settlement Services. At the University of Baltimore, Morgane is President of the Real Estate Law Association and interned with the Honorable Judge Karen Ferretti in the District Court of Montgomery County, in-house counsel of the Donohoe Companies, Inc., and law firm Batoff Associates, P.A. Morgane looks forward to clerking next summer at law firm Mcnees Wallace & Nurick LLC. She expects to graduate May 2026 and pursue a career in real estate and corporate law.

[1] Making a Utility Program Go Viral, ICF, https://www.icf.com/clients/energy/bge-utility-program-viral (last visited Jan. 18, 2025); Ian Round, Former employees accuse BGE of Fraud, Petition to Intervene With PSC Over Rate Increases, The Daily Rec. (Dec. 27, 2024), https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/12/27/former-employees-accuse-bge-of-fraud-ask-to-join-lawsuit-over-rate-increases/.

[2] Round, supra note 1; Wambui Kamau, Maryland Regulators to Review Lessons Learned on BGE’s Multi-year Plan, WYPR (Oct. 15, 2024, 12:30 PM), https://www.wypr.org/wypr-news/2024-10-14/maryland-regulators-to-review-bge-rate-hike-proposal-and-multi-year-plan.

[3] Round, supra note 1.

[4] See id.; Making a Utility Program Go Viral, supra note 1.

[5] See Lori Sears, Multi-year Rate Plans: A Failed Solution in Search of a Problem, People’s Counsel Tells Public Service Commission, Md. Off. of People’s Couns. (Oct. 18, 2024, 3:47 PM), https://content.govdelivery.com/accounts/MDOPC/bulletins/3bceee5; Tommie Clark, ‘This Is Unprecedented’: Roughly $26 Increase Coming to BGW Bills in The First Half of 2025, WBALTV (Jan. 8, 2025, 6:45 PM), https://www.wbaltv.com/article/roughly-26-increase-coming-bge-bills-starting-january/63372436.

[6] Round, supra note 1.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Id.

[11] Id.

[12] Round, supra note 1.

[13] Alex Mann & Lorraine Mirabella, Lawsuit Accuses BGE of Culture of Racial Discrimination, The Balt. Sun (April 14, 2022, 12:52 AM), https://www.baltimoresun.com/2022/04/13/lawsuit-accuses-bge-of-culture-of-racial-discrimination/.

[14] Id.

[15] Id.

[16] Ian Round, BGE Counters Fraud Claim By Former Employees, The Daily Rec. (Dec. 30, 2024), https://thedailyrecord.com/2024/12/30/bge-counters-fraud-claim-by-former-employees/.

[17] See id.

[18] Id.

[19] See id.

[20] Racquel Bazos, People’s Counsel Asks for Discovery After Petition from Former BGE Employees, The Balt. Sun (Dec. 30, 2024, 8:55 PM), https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/12/30/peoples-counsel-asks-for-discovery-after-former-bge-employees-petition/.

[21] See David S. Lapp et al., Reply Comments of the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, Md. Off. Of People’s Couns. 1-3 (Oct. 4, 2024), https://opc.maryland.gov/Portals/0/Files/Publications/Others/FINAL_MRP%20Lessons%20Learned%20Reply%20Comments%20-%209645-9618.pdf?ver=z0Wlytrm8djy_IF_06x7yA%3d%3d.

[22] Lorraine Mirabella, Public Interest Group Questions Maryland Utilities’ Transparency in Lobbying, The Balt. Sun (March 25, 2024, 5:00 AM), https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/03/25/watchdog-utilities-lobbying-transparency/.

[23] Id.

[24] Madeleine O’Neill, Facing Lawsuits From Workers, BGE And Contractors Blame Each Other in Explosion, The Balt. Sun (June 21, 2024, 7:21 PM), https://www.baltimoresun.com/2024/06/20/lawsuits-bge-contractors-2020-explosion/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAv628BhC2ARIsAIJIiK–w9KVjvy5Pjh9Jxy-59lBDZTHmrjjKwYGPyXBFMqcs_sWdORxTtAaAm-iEALw_wcB.

[25] Mirabella, supra note 19.

[26] See Clark, supra note 5.

[27] Baltimore Gas & Electric: Corrupt Racist, and Price-Gouging, Speak Out Socialists (Mar. 2, 2023), https://speakoutsocialists.org/baltimore-gas-electric-corrupt-racist-and-price-gouging/.

[28] See id; Kamau, supra note 2.

[29] See, e.g., Bazos, supra note 17.