Maryland is facing an ongoing energy price crunch. Customers of PEPCO and BGE have already received a 35% and 72% increase, respectively. There is no easy solution, now that the energy utilities are no longer vertically integrated, and re-regulating the industry will be much more difficult.

However, there are a few solutions which would yield positive results in the short-term:

• Change the rules so that wholesale energy purchases by the utilities occur in staggered auctions throughout the year, rather than an “all-of-the-eggs-in-one-basket” annual auction.
• Encourage the utilities to hedge their energy purchases in the financial futures and derivatives markets, thereby smoothing out prices for the utilities and the public.
• Allow and encourage municipal aggregation, whereby consumers can pool their purchasing power, either county-wide or in groups of neighboring counties. Such a system in Ohio has reduced rates in some instances by 1/3.

The problems look even more severe long-term, but the best way to resolve this crisis is to recognize that crisis means opportunity. We look back ten years and see our legislators in the grip of a nearly blinding hysteria in embracing complete de-regulation. This was never a good idea, but after the Enron debacle and ongoing global warming, it’s clear that the electric utilities must become once again public utilities. Just as health care is not a business, neither is the provision of power to our society, which is totally dependent on a safe, dependable flow of energy.

If, back in the 1990’s, rather than de-regulating, we had followed Portland’s (Oregon) lead, the situation would be dramatically different. Beginning in 1993 Portland instituted changes, which, picked up by the surrounding county in 2001, have led to a reduction of greenhouse gas emissions to within 1% of the Kyoto Protocol limits. The Energy Trust of Oregon was founded in 2002 as an independent nonprofit organization dedicated to energy efficiency and renewable energy production. The Trust replaced the programs previously run by the local power companies, bringing predictability, stability and a reliable source of funding to the provision of clean energy. These programs are supported by the collection of a 3% public purpose charge to utility customers.

What has been accomplished in Portland and Multnomah County? Since 1993, greenhouse emissions have declined 13% on a per capita basis, while they have risen 13% in the U.S. overall. The reduction has been achieved by:

• 75% growth in public transport with the addition of light rail and streetcar lines.
• Renewable energy sources accounting for over 10% of municipal electricity use.
• A recycling rate of 53%, among the highest in the nation.
• Construction of 40 high-performance green buildings.
• Planting 750,000 plants and trees.
• Weatherization of 10,000 multifamily units and 800 homes over the past two years.
• The creation of the Energy Trust.

We can match this in Maryland. Earlier this year the County Council passed seven bills to make our county a “Cool County” by 2050, and we can expand that effort statewide with the Global Warming Solutions Act. We have started a state program to construct green buildings, and have also legislated such construction here in Montgomery County. We can retrofit older apartment buildings to weatherize and modernize them, providing affordable housing. We can harness our scientific and technological talent in the state to craft new renewable energy sources, along the lines of the Apollo Alliance. We can create new, high-paying jobs as we “green” our economy and make ourselves independent of Middle East oil. We can lead the country by example, bringing to the East Coast what Portland has already managed on the West Coast.

We have already spent on the unnecessary war in Iraq, in addition to the precious lives of soldiers and civilians, as much money as it would have taken to bring the entire United States in compliance with the Kyoto protocols.

We can do this, if we have the will. We are making slow progress, but we need more forceful, skilled and educated leadership in the Assembly to move ahead more quickly. Maryland, the wealthiest state in the Union, should be the envy of the country.