Well, it's not 72 percent.

But it's 50 percent! On top of the 15 percent we're already paying.

So what's the difference?

Almost none.

When he was running for governor, Martin O'Malley did a lot of complaining about the PSC, saying that Ehrlich-appointed commissioners were in the pockets of industry and had not given the BGE rate request the deep scrutiny Maryland consumers deserved.

"The Public Service Commission, which has become a shell of its former self, needs to become a commission that protects consumers and protects the public instead of a commission that protects corporate interests," O'Malley said. In May 2006, as Baltimore mayor, he sent his city solicitor into court to try to get a better deal that would include reconsideration of the rate increases by the PSC. A Circuit Court judge found that the PSC's "failure to conduct a proper adjudicatory hearing resulted
in its issuance of a defective order, which contained neither findings of fact nor conclusions of law supported by substantial evidence on the record."

As governor, O'Malley put Steve Larsen in charge of the PSC. Here's a bright guy who reached heroic status in Maryland a few years ago when, as state insurance commissioner, he nixed CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield's gross attempt to become a for-profit insurer, to sell itself and create a multimillion-dollar bonanza for its top executives. To the disappointment of no one I know -- except maybe Bill Jews -- Larsen rejected the proposed $1.37 billion sale of CareFirst to the publicly traded WellPoint Health Networks Inc. of California.

So, we're talking about someone with independence and integrity, which is what you want in a PSC chairman.

After all is said and done, and the PSC does the homework O'Malley accused the Ehrlich-era commission of shirking, what do we get? 

A conclusion that BGE followed the rules when it obtained electricity at higher market prices last year, and a 50 percent on top of 15 percent -- instead of 72 percent -- rate hike for consumers.

"I know that won't be satisfactory to the ratepayers, but hopefully it will remove some of the suspicion around the rates and show that whatever else you can say about it, they aren't contrary to the law," Larsen says in today's Sun.

Call it the Larsen effect: Validation that Ehrlich's PSC wasn't as far off the mark, in terms of this particular issue, as O'Malley claimed when he made it the hottest issue of the 2006 gubernatorial election.

There's no way to be satisfied with this. But at least with Larsen involved you know that a genuine consumer watchdog was on the case. Everyone knew this was coming -- the only question was how much.