Today's column:

Two days ago, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said she had evidence a company called Edison Mission Energy continued a suspicious pattern of wholesale electricity trading long after it claimed to have stopped.

Why does this matter to Maryland?

Edison Mission sells electricity to the PJM grid, which stretches from the East Coast to Illinois. Potential price manipulation by Edison Mission or any other electricity producer in a deregulated marketplace can reap hundreds of millions in improper profits and raise prices for everybody who gets their power off the grid.

That includes you, Baltimore Gas and Electric customers.

Edison Mission denied Madigan's allegation yesterday, saying the troubling behavior she identified came from generation plants owned by other companies.

"These are not our units," said company spokesman Doug McFarlan.

Read the whole Hancock column here.