Electric utilities must disclose PJM votes under new Maryland law

• Maryland public electric utilities must disclose how they vote at PJM Interconnection stakeholder meetings under a law signed May 13 by Democratic Gov. Wes Moore.
• On or before February 1 each year, electric companies covered by the bill, or their local affiliates, must file a comprehensive report with the Maryland Public Service Commission that include both public and nonpublic votes on matters before PJM. The first filing deadline comes next year.
• Similar bills are under consideration in Delaware, Pennsylvania and Illinois, all of which are partially or wholly within PJM territory. PJM is responsible for North America’s largest transmission grid.

Maryland HB 121 passed both houses of the state legislature with overwhelming bipartisan support.

A similar transparency requirement appeared last year in broader utility legislation that would have required all Maryland utilities to seek PJM membership and refrain from ratebasing lobbying expenses.

The 2024 bill did not make it to Moore’s desk, but the prohibition on lobbying-expense ratebasing appeared in a comprehensive package this year that also requires separate rate structures for large-load customers, imposes new restrictions on gas infrastructure investments and authorizes solicitations for nearly 5 GW of dispatchable generation and energy storage resources. The 2025 bill now awaits the governor’s signature.

HB 121 is a “common-sense bill” that prevents utilities from operating “in the dark” while “Maryland families struggle with soaring electric bills,” sponsor Lorig Charkoudian, a Democratic state lawmaker who represents parts of Maryland’s Washington, D.C. suburbs, said in a May 14 op-ed in the Baltimore Sun.

“Until now, there was no requirement that utilities tell the public — or even state regulators — how they’re voting on transmission policies or market rules that can add hundreds of millions of dollars to our monthly bills,” Charkoudian said.

A PJM representative indicated the new law wouldn’t affect how it does business, while pushing back on the notion that it shields member utilities from public scrutiny.

“PJM operates transparently and has no concerns about either piece of legislation,” said Dan Lockwood, a spokesperson for the nonprofit regional transmission organization. “It will create [a] greater administrative burden for the utilities targeted by the legislation, however.”

HB 121 covers electric companies operating in Maryland “other than a municipal electric utility.”

A spokesperson for FirstEnergy subsidiary Potomac Edison, which serves more than 400,000 customers in western Maryland and eastern West Virginia, said the utility had no position on the new law.

Spokespeople for Exelon subsidiaries Pepco and Baltimore Gas & Electric, which serve customers across heavily populated central Maryland, issued a joint statement to Utility Dive that did not express support or opposition for the bill.

“Ongoing partnership across sectors is critical, and we will continue to work with all stakeholders and policymakers to build a resilient and sustainable energy landscape that serves every customer,” they said.

Most of the more than 400 annual PJM stakeholder meetings are open to the public and members of the media, according to a PJM fact sheet. The organization provides meeting agendas and materials in advance and publishes minutes afterwards, it says.

But “a select few meetings have more restrictive attendance policies due to confidentiality and other requirements,” PJM says.

In any case, HB 121 won’t fully address transparency concerns across the electricity system, Charkoudian warned in her op-ed.

For example, Maryland lacks jurisdiction over the merchant generators that “also vote at PJM and often push for market rules that benefit their profits at the public’s expense, such as costly Reliability Must-Run rules,” she said. “Greater scrutiny across the board is badly needed.”