Among the bills that didn't make it in the General Assembly session that ended this week was one that would have re-regulated energy generation in Maryland. While its failure was a major disappointment to consumer advocates, it was not mourned by Gary Skulnik, president of Clean Currents. 

His Rockville-based company sells "green" energy to consumers, and lately it's been able to sell wind-based energy for less than what you'd pay to buy electricity from BGE or Pepco.  Clean Currents offers fixed-price electricity plans with 50 percent or 100 percent generated by wind turbines (elsewhere, not in Maryland).

Skulnik's small company is able to underprice the big utilities because he's been able to take advantage of falling energy prices, while the utilities acquire power in long-term contracts. The firm has signed up almost 1,500 residential customers and about 300 businesses, according to him.

"We're hoping Clean Currents will be the Apple of the clean-energy industry," he said.

Skulnik feared that re-regulating energy would put small entrepreneurial companies like his at a competitive disadvantage.  He said his small firm, with just 10 employees, lacks the legal and lobbying resources to jockey with the big utilities at the Public Service Commission.

Companies hoping to develop wind farms in Maryland had initially expressed concerns about the move to re-regulate, but persuaded lawmakers to amend the proposal to exempt facilities that generated 70 megawatts or less of power - the upper limits for all the projects currently seeking approval.

Supporters of re-regulation, including some environmental activists, argued that alternative energy generation needs a push from the state.   But Skulnik, and some other green advocates, worried that re-regulation might instead delay or even squelch opportunities to win more consumers to green energy, with market forces aligned to make it more competitive.

The O'Malley administration measure passed the Senate, but died in a House committee.