Maryland Looks Into Price Cap
Staff Writer
2011-03-29
.dmvblogspot.bloggieblog.com .
If you say price cap to a Tea Party member, they will go off. You must keep this on the "downlow". Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley's administration is working on a type of price cap as part of legislation that would require public utilities to enter into long-term power purchase agreements with offshore wind energy projects off the state's coast.
During a March 15 state Senate Finance Committee hearing on S.B. 861, Abby Hopper, O'Malley's energy adviser, said all of the state's ratepayers would equitably share in covering the cost related to the PPAs, which the administration has estimated to be $1.44 more per month on an individual residential customer's bill. Under the legislation, the cost would not kick in until 2016, which is when turbines are anticipated to start spinning off Maryland's coast.