I have lived in both NYC and Baltimore in the past year and believe me, my gas & electric bill is much, much more expensive here in Baltimore. I was shocked at the first utility bill I received last fall and my dismay only grew throughout the winter. Don't believe the hype from those bandits at BGE - not that anybody actually did. The electricity rates down here are absolutely outrageous and the state needs to hop on these thieves and heavily regulate them ASAP.

I got $400 and $500 bills all winter and I kept the thermostat on 60! BGE is a group of bloodsucking leaches, that took advantage of the law to screw US! They are satan and helped along by the hand of government!

I think the Sun needs fact checkers.

Exactly! Baltimore cost more than NYC-you have to be kidding me!
Whitefence should do a more pressing survey like the performance of O'Malley. I don't think they have enough ink for all those zero’s.

Why was the post about the WhiteFence survey listed as one of the headlines yesterday afternoon, while today's post where BGE clearly presents the facts refuting the WhiteFence survey is buried at the bottom of the home page under the business section? It was irresponsible to post the WhiteFence survey with out any fact checking or research into the methodology of the survey. It's one thing for an independent blog to make a post with out fact checking, but you are supposed to be a journalist. The fact that this is a blog should not forgive you from the basic responsibilities that come with being a journalist. I challenge you to post this blog under the headline sections as well.

Edison Electric Institute’s Semi-Annual Bill Comparison > whitefence.com > Patapsco Jones > Eilleen Ambrose's inaccurate "survey"

For the folks with high bills - that is probably more of a function of your home's energy efficiency. All the suppliers can do is set the rate for the electricity commodity and the rest is up to us. The suppliers in the region can be found on the PSC's website: http://webapp.psc.state.md.us/Intranet/SupplierInfo/searchSupplier.cfm It looks like we have 10 competitive residential suppliers in our region currently.

People need to take ownership of their energy usage and not point the finger at the distribution company. There are a number of companies locally that can provide you with an energy audit to find drafts, leaky seals, areas with no insulation, etc. Here is a link to MD's Energystar home performance site for more info: http://www.mdhomeperformance.org/home-improvement.html
Looking at your BGE bill, the largest number in the billing calculation is 100% within our control - our usage.

Why do people worry about how much a month they spend? I have lived in a place where it was $300 a month, and I have also lived in a place where it was never more than $180. There are too may variables to say how much per month.

To see where it is cheapest to live, you need to look at the per unit costs. That takes away the variables of the houses (temperature/energy efficiency/gas-oil-steam) and allows you to compare all of the cities' services fairly.

BGE's comment: According to the latest Edison Electric Institute’s Semi-Annual Bill Comparison, a 1,000 kWh residential bill in New York is $219.98, while the same bill for 1,000 kWh in Baltimore is $154.96.

This shows a direct comparison of the price we pay for electric. I would me more inclined to trust this than the per household numbers.

The Baltimore Sun should be ashamed of themselves for giving this survey so much visibility yesterday. Those who know, recognize the obvious bias in the survey and the rationale for it. Whitefence simply wants to create a market for its services. If journalists were as gullible in Chicago, Philadelphia, Boston, D.C. etc. as they are in Baltimore, there would probably be Whitefence survey results published in their local papers stating their city had the highest utility rates. Free advertising.

It's easy enough to check the tariffs to see the per kilowatt-hour prices for electricity at BGE , ConEd and any other public utility. Do your homework.

It's remarkable how much time BGE PR people have to post comments on blogs.

It's very interesting to me that BGE's response quotes the exact cost per kWh for electricity yet fails to do a direct comparison per unit with New York City. Perhaps BGE overcharges for gas on a per unit basis, including its "delivery charge", and so doing a direct comparison with NYC's costs would expose the disparity.

I'll have to do some research to see if this bears out. I wouldn't be terribly surprised, however. For those of you blindly trusting BGE's letter, do you work for BGE???

I went to that website and they makle you enter your SSN and go through a credit check to get a price. This means only the people with good credit can order. Bottom line the high amount probably reflects higher end customers in surrounding counties not only Baltimore City use the website.

Hey Patapsco... shut everyone up and post your bills from NYC and Baltimore and let's compare them.

I'm not a BGE PR person, but I am an employee who'd been dealing with this for 30 years. BGE has talked to the Whitefence people - they've admitted their methodology is seriously flawed but they don't care. You can easily find accurate information for this kind of thing, if you want to read something besides Martin O'Malley's talking points. But I know it's easier to just sit back and rant.

Cynicism--the intellectual cripple's substitute for intelligence.
Joseph Russell Lynes Jr.