Maryland PSC Approves BGE's $350M Transmission Upgrade Spanning Three Counties

The Maryland Public Service Commission approved Baltimore Gas and Electric's plan to expand transmission lines across Harford, Baltimore, and Anne Arundel counties on March 25, clearing the way for a project that BGE says is the only viable path to keeping the lights on once two major generating stations go dark.

State documents and company filings show the package includes roughly 37 miles of new or upgraded transmission line, along with multiple substation upgrades — specifically, two new substations and improvements to three existing ones, at an estimated cost of $350 million. The technical core of the build-out runs through South Baltimore: BGE wants to replace the 70-year-old Gould Street substation, which a company representative described as being at the "end of its useful life capacity," saying it "poses a serious risk to reliability, and it will not be able to support the forecasted load by mid 2028." The proposed underground transmission line would connect that substation to the Greene Street substation further north.

The project is also tied to the planned retirement of Brandon Shores, located at 1000 Brandon Shores Road in Curtis Bay, Anne Arundel County — a coal-fired facility that, along with the adjacent H.A. Wagner plant, has been operating under a reliability-must-run agreement. Both plants are committed to operate until May 31, 2029, under an agreement intended to provide the power necessary to maintain grid reliability in and around Baltimore until necessary transmission upgrades are complete.

Public Utility Law Judge Jennifer J. Grace wrote in the order that "This Project is the only solution identified by any of the statutory Parties that is both cost-effective and viable." BGE framed the urgency in starker terms in a separate statement, saying the project "also addresses reliability risk from critical transmission and distribution infrastructure that dates back to the 1950s. That risk grows each day this aging equipment stays on the system."

The project also connects to Baltimore Peninsula, the planned 235-acre mixed-use redevelopment in South Baltimore formerly known as Port Covington. The upgraded infrastructure would link an expanded substation west of downtown with a new distribution facility in that area, which has been underway since 2016. BGE has maintained that even if development at the Baltimore Peninsula were to stop entirely, the utility "would still run into this capacity constraint."

Opponents have until April 21 to file an appeal with the full PSC. Their objections span health, process, and necessity: Ridgely's Delight Association President Nicole Dungee expressed concerns about an underground transmission line planned through her neighborhood, while residents near the Harford-Baltimore County border have raised concerns about electromagnetic field exposure and alleged trespassing and easement violations during site surveys. The PSC ruling found that EMF levels are expected to remain below recommended safety guidelines and are "not considered a major health concern."

The cost figures have also drawn scrutiny. While the PSC approval pegs the project at $350 million, lawmakers noted the increasing costs of the BGE project: initial estimates for the company's Port Covington-related distribution upgrades were about $130 million, but the cost, including the transmission line, is actually above $500 million, according to the Baltimore Banner. Data presented in the legislature showed that four BGE proposals initially expected to cost $373 million are now projected to cost $1.1 billion.

Those cost dynamics are fueling a parallel fight in Annapolis over who gets to scrutinize these projects. Baseline transmission projects go through the PSC for final approval — those are ordered by the regional grid operator, PJM Interconnection, to maintain reliability. But supplemental projects proposed by transmission-owning utilities like BGE are only subject to approval by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. FERC conducts "no meaningful review" of costs and presumes that transmission costs incurred by utilities are "prudent" unless evidence is presented to the contrary, according to Maryland's Office of People's Counsel.

Delegate Embry's bill would bring local projects to the PSC, though the commission may not be able to regulate all aspects such as cost. People's Counsel David Lapp said the bill is still valuable because it "enables there to be information about the cost, even if the state cannot actually regulate those costs." Lapp's office joined other consumer advocates in filing a complaint with FERC against the local transmission loophole in late 2024. Senate President Bill Ferguson plans to introduce legislation that would require all transmission projects to go through the PSC, mandating utilities justify the need and cost of these infrastructure projects at the state level.

Baltimore City Council President Zeke Cohen put it bluntly at a recent news conference: "They dig up our streets. They make bank. Baltimoreans pay the price." Whether opponents can marshal enough evidence before the April 21 deadline to pause the project a second time will determine whether BGE breaks ground in the coming months — or faces another round of review by the full commission.