An Environmental Mandate
David S. Lapp recently began his term as Maryland People’s Counsel, and Delegate Marc Korman was the sponsor of the Office of People’s Counsel Environmental Reform Act.
With growing public demand for clean energy and the evidence of climate change all around us, state and federal utility regulators are considering policies to decarbonize our energy systems. Policies decided by the Maryland Public Service Commission and Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will help determine whether Maryland meets its greenhouse gas reduction goals and consumer demand for clean energy — and how decarbonization is paid for.
Recognizing that the environment is a consumer issue in these regulatory proceedings, the Maryland General Assembly passed — and the Governor allowed to become law without his signature — the Office of People's Counsel Environmental Reform Act (House Bill 30).
House Bill 30 amends the authorizing statute for the Maryland Office of People's Counsel (OPC). For nearly one hundred years, OPC has been tasked with representing Maryland's residential consumers in utility regulatory matters before federal and state agencies and courts — primarily aiming to keep residential customer utility bills low.