Maryland electricity rates & utilities
We track 4 Maryland utilities and the rate cases at the Maryland Public Service Commission. You can shop your electricity supplier here — so the bill audit applies.
How electricity rates work in Maryland
In Maryland, your utility delivers the power and is regulated by the Public Service Commission (PSC). Generation is competitive — you can shop or stay on the default.
The default rate is Standard Offer Service (SOS), procured by your utility under PSC oversight. Maryland Electric Choice lets you compare supplier offers to SOS.
A rate increase usually comes from a distribution rate case at the PSC, a change in SOS pricing, or your own supplier contract changing.
What you can do: Compare your supplier's rate to your utility's Standard Offer Service. If you're paying more, you can return to SOS through your utility or Maryland Electric Choice.
Who's who on your Maryland electric bill
Four different players decide what you pay. Here's each one, in plain English:
Your utility — the "distributor"
The company that owns the poles and wires and physically delivers power to your home — the name on your bill (in Maryland, one of the utilities listed below, like Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)). This part is a regulated monopoly: only it delivers in your area, and the MD PSC sets what it can charge for delivery. You can't shop the delivery part.
Generation — the "supply"
The electricity itself (also called supply or generation). You can buy it from your utility's default rate — the Standard Offer Service — or from a competing third-party supplier. It's the identical electricity either way; only the price differs.
PJM — the "grid operator"
The independent operator that runs the regional high-voltage grid for Maryland and 12 other states. It's like air-traffic control for electricity — it keeps enough power flowing across the whole region. Its wholesale costs flow through your utility into your bill. (More below.)
The MD PSC — the "regulator"
The Maryland Public Service Commission is the state agency that reviews and approves utility rate increases. When a utility wants to charge more, it files a "rate case" here — which is exactly what we track.
Putting it together: when you turn on a light in Maryland, the electricity was produced by power plants, routed across the region by PJM, and delivered to your house over Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)'s wires (your distributor). Your bill charges you for both the supply (the electricity) and the delivery (the wires). If you signed up with a third-party supplier, they set the supply price; if not, you pay your utility's Standard Offer Service. The MD PSC approves the delivery rates and oversees the default supply rate.
What is "PJM" and its "capacity market"? (plain English)
PJM is the independent operator that runs the high-voltage power grid for 13 states and Washington, D.C. — including yours. Think of it as air-traffic control for electricity: it doesn't own power plants or your wires, but it makes sure enough electricity is flowing across the whole region every second of the day. The wholesale costs PJM sets get passed through your utility into your bill.
The capacity market is a separate, once-a-year auction PJM runs. Instead of paying for electricity you use, it pays power plants just to promise they'll be ready on the few hottest or coldest days when demand peaks. That promise is called "capacity." It's like paying a backup generator a retainer to stay on standby — you pay even in months you never need it.
Why it matters now: when PJM expects demand to jump, those standby payments spike. Demand is jumping largely because of data centers, and PJM's recent capacity auctions hit record highs three times in a row. Utilities pass that cost straight to customers — which is a big reason bills across all five states we cover are rising. Sources: PJM; PJM Independent Market Monitor (Monitoring Analytics).
Maryland electricity prices over time
The average Maryland residential electricity price went from 13.12¢/kWh in 2019 to 19.48¢/kWh in 2025 — up 48%.
Maryland utilities we cover
- Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)
Standard Offer Service
- Delmarva Power
Standard Offer Service
- Pepco (Maryland)
Standard Offer Service
- Potomac Edison
Standard Offer Service · 12.936¢/kWh
Coverage note: We track Maryland's four investor-owned utilities (BGE, Pepco, Delmarva Power, Potomac Edison). We do not cover Maryland's electric cooperatives — such as SMECO (Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative) and Choptank Electric — or municipal utilities, because cooperatives are member-owned and set rates through their own boards rather than standard PSC rate cases and SOS.
Where to find your supply rate on a Maryland bill
Your utility's standard rate is the Standard Offer Service. On your bill, find the supply / generation rate in ¢/kWh and compare it to that — if a supplier charges more, you're overpaying. Here's the exact line to look for:
Where is this on my bill?
On your bill, find the supply rate in ¢/kWh. Your utility's standard rate is the “Standard Offer Service.” If your supplier charges more than that, you're overpaying.
Rate cases & increases
No active rate cases in our tracker for Maryland right now. We monitor the MD PSC dockets — get an alert when one is filed.