The Utility RELIEF Act of 2026

Marylanders are facing rising energy costs driven by the convergence of several forces — rapidly rising demand, delays in bringing new power online, and shifting national policies.

This is a regional challenge requiring regional and national solutions. The PJM grid covers 67 million people across 13 states, and no single state can solve these pressures alone. But Maryland is using every tool available to lower costs, increase supply, protect ratepayers, and affirm our commitment to clean energy goals.

HB 1532, the Utility RELIEF (Reducing Energy Load Inflation for Everyday Families) Act, is a package of bills that builds on the 2025 Next Generation Energy Act and is grounded in four priorities: protecting ratepayers, ensuring reliability as demand grows, advancing clean energy, and preserving programs that reduce costs over time.

This bipartisan legislation passed the House by a vote of 108–25.

Key Priorities:

• Protect Maryland ratepayers. We will make electric bills more affordable (by at least $150 annually[1]) by strengthening oversight of utilities, limiting excessive utility executive compensation from being passed onto customers, reforming rate-setting practices, and ensuring large energy users pay for the infrastructure needed to support their demand.
  
• Respond to rising energy demand—especially from data center growth. Electricity demand is increasing in Maryland, driven in large part by rapid data center development powering artificial intelligence and the digital economy. We will ensure that new large energy users are accountable for their grid impacts.

• Address national energy pressures and federal policy changes. The federal government recently increased subsidies for fossil fuels while reducing support for energy efficiency and clean energy programs. These decisions are raising costs for consumers and slowing the transition to more stable and affordable energy sources. We will protect Maryland ratepayers while maintaining our long-term commitment to a cleaner and more resilient energy system.
  
• Preserve and strengthen the programs that reduce energy costs over time. Programs like EmPOWER have helped Marylanders reduce energy consumption and improve the efficiency of their homes and businesses, making energy use more affordable and sustainable over time. We will improve how these programs operate so they continue delivering savings for households long–term while also managing the short-term costs.
  
• Accelerate reliable clean energy generation. New electricity generation has been delayed for years due to backlogs within the PJM grid. Hundreds of megawatts of new clean energy projects have been stuck in the approval queue for years. As a result, supply has not kept pace with demand, putting upward pressure on prices. By streamlining siting, supporting zero-emission energy sources, and deploying tools like competitive public auctions for renewable projects, Maryland can bring new power online faster while maintaining its commitment to clean and sustainable energy.

OVERVIEW

Improve Affordability

• Protect Ratepayers from Excessive Compensation. This bill ensures that excessive executive compensation and bonuses cannot be passed on to customers through their utility bills. It protects ratepayers from paying for corporate pay packages that are unrelated to delivering reliable energy service.
  
• Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) Membership. Utilities currently receive additional payments simply for participating in the PJM regional grid operator. This reform follows the lead of other states and essentially eliminates that extra cost on ratepayers and keeps the utilities in PJM.
  
• Net Energy Metering. Our net energy metering policies need to be updated to acknowledge a more mature market. We will transition and save ratepayers money by changing the compensation structure for excess solar power that customers generate and send to the grid.  

• Multi-Year Rate Plans. Utilities will no longer be able to set rates based on projected costs that may not reflect actual expenses (forecast test years). Instead, rates will be established using real historical data (historic test years), ensuring the initial rate-setting process is grounded in actual costs and helping prevent inflated rate increases for customers.
  
  
• EmPOWER Adjustments. EmPOWER has helped Marylanders reduce energy use and lower utility bills through energy efficiency programs, making homes healthier and more affordable to live in. We will reform EmPOWER in the following ways:

• Removing the gas EmPOWER surcharge. This change allows utility companies to focus on the electrification, weatherization, and demand response aspects of the EmPOWER program and ensures that every dollar spent through EmPOWER helps Maryland transition to cleaner and more efficient buildings.
  
  • Exploring options to lower overhead costs by transitioning to a single administrator. The EmPOWER program is currently administered by Maryland’s largest utility companies. Each utility operates a different program through contractors and operates at various levels of cost-effectiveness. Streamlining EmPOWER would create more certainty for consumers and give the Public Service Commission and the Maryland General Assembly better oversight of the program.

• Shifting costs on electric bills for the next program cycle. EmPOWER programming runs on a 3–year cycle. To ensure that every Marylander’s utility bill achieves cost savings in each of the next three years, we are slightly reducing the scope of the utility–administered programs and using a portion of the Strategic Energy Investment Fund to pay down some of the EmPOWER costs.

These reforms maintain the value of the EmPOWER program while reducing short-term utility bill impacts, especially in a moment when federal policies are driving price spikes by increasing fossil fuel subsidies, slowing clean energy development, and cutting funding for energy efficiency.

Preserving EmPOWER is critical because eliminating it would result in higher energy costs for Maryland families for years to come.

• Capital Expense. Utilities make money by building and owning infrastructure, on which they get a rate of return. Before utilities spend billions building new infrastructure that increases customer bills, they will have to evaluate lower-cost solutions such as grid-enhancing technologies and require local transmission projects to undergo regulatory review. This helps ensure the grid is modernized in the most cost-effective way for ratepayers.
  
• Retail Choice.   We will encourage more confidence in consumer choice and competitive pricing by strengthening Maryland’s retail energy market for suppliers.

• DRIVE Act: The DRIVE Act (Distributed Renewable Integration and Vehicle Electrification Act) is a 2024 law designed to modernize Maryland’s electric grid by integrating technologies like electric vehicles, battery storage, and other distributed energy resources into the grid. It promotes tools such as time-of-use electricity pricing, vehicle-to-grid charging, and virtual power plants so customers can help supply energy to the grid during peak demand and lower overall system costs. The rebate program is currently administered by utilities. Under an amended provision to this law, it will instead be administered by the Maryland Energy Administration at no additional cost to the ratepayer. This change allows these innovative time-of-use electricity programs to continue without raising utility bills. Customers can still benefit from programs that reward shifting energy use to lower-cost times of day.
  
• Low Income Energy. This reform streamlines how energy assistance programs are administered within the Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP), improving operational efficiency and making it easier for low-income households to access the support they need. It reduces administrative overhead and directs more resources to families who need help paying their energy bills.

Enhance Generation

• Clean Energy Reverse Auction. We will continue to enhance energy generation opportunities in the state by using funds collected from renewable energy alternative compliance payments (ACPs) to build new clean energy projects in Maryland through a reverse auction. This approach means clean energy developers compete to offer projects at the lowest cost, allowing the state to select the most affordable proposals and deploy renewable energy quickly while ensuring the lowest possible cost to ratepayers.
  
• Energy Permitting Improvements. These reforms make it easier to build clean energy projects in places where it makes sense to, such as on rooftops, while reducing unnecessary permitting delays. By accelerating where and how projects can be built, Maryland can bring new energy generation online faster, which helps stabilize supply and reduce long-term costs for ratepayers.
  
• Strengthen and Support Clean Energy Generation. We will make targeted reforms to Nuclear Zero-Emission Credits and streamline solar generation procurement to ensure these programs are more effective. Supporting a diverse mix of zero-emission energy sources helps ensure reliable electricity supply while protecting ratepayers from long-term fuel price volatility.

Focus Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF)

• Alternative Compliance Payments. As noted above, we will use ACPs to support competitive, low–price public auctions for renewable generation.
  
• Reform SEIF. We will further reform other revenue in the Strategic Energy Investment Fund to ensure it is used for affordability and investments in our energy future.

Data Center Accountability

• Large Load Tariff. Large energy users like data centers will be required to pay the cost of the infrastructure needed to support their electricity demand. This prevents residential ratepayers from subsidizing the energy needs of large commercial facilities.
  
• Transparency. We will require clearer reporting and oversight of the energy use and grid impacts of large data centers. Greater transparency helps ensure responsible development and protects grid reliability.
  
• Set Expectations. Data center operators who want to build in Maryland will be expected to bring their own clean energy resources, participate in demand response programs, and contribute to local community benefits. This encourages large new facilities to support the grid rather than strain it.

Increase Accountability and Transparency

• Closing Transmission Line Loopholes. Underground transmission lines will be subject to review by the PSC, something that currently only applies to overhead power lines. This limits the ability of utilities to build new lines at will and pass along the cost to ratepayers without the benefit of oversight or review.
• Tracking Proceedings. We will require increased transparency and tracking of major PSC proceedings. This reform improves public visibility into major regulatory decisions at the PSC. Stakeholders will be able to track key proceedings and understand how decisions affect energy policy and utility rates.
  
• Energy Bill transparency. We will require increased access to clearly stated information about energy bills that allows consumers to better understand what is included in their energy costs.

Quick Quotes

On savings:

• “Every dollar saved on utility bills means more money for groceries, rent, gas, medicine, and everyday costs of living. When you add up those savings across Maryland, it means hundreds of millions of dollars staying the pockets of working families.”

• “Federal policies are wreaking havoc on our economy. Tariffs have made grocery prices soar. A war in Iran has made gas unaffordable. Billionaire tax breaks have funded health care cuts. And expensive fossil fuels are subsidized while more affordable, renewable, and sustainable clean energy projects get the chopping block. But here in Maryland, we are focused on doing what responsible leaders should do: lowering costs wherever we can for the families we serve.”

On data center accountability:

• “Working families shouldn’t be subsidizing the energy demands of massive data centers. If you’re driving up demand, you should help cover the costs.”

On energy generation:

• “This bill aligns incentives to create new energy generation to meet consumer demand and help lower prices.”

On commitment to clean energy goals:

• “We’re not choosing between today’s costs and tomorrow’s climate. We are addressing both. The most responsible path forward is the one that meets this moment and prepares us for the next.”

[1] $150 in annual savings is the minimum base savings from changes to the EmPOWER program, which take effect immediately. When accounting for all proposed policy changes collectively, utility bills are expected to decrease further across the short–, medium–, and long–term.

2027 Spending Affordability Advisory Committee Report

Recommendation:

Accordingly, the Committee urges the County to use the temporary strength in FY 2027 revenues strategically—to reinforce fiscal resilience, address structural risks, and enhance long-
term growth capacity. Specifically, the Committee recommends:

● Operating Budget Discipline
For FY 2027, limit recurring General Fund spending growth to no more than 4% and
allocate the remaining projected revenue growth (approximately 2.3%) to reserves.
Given that this year’s revenue strength is temporary, ongoing expenditures should not be
built on a one-year spike.
This approach will rebuild reserves that have declined in recent years and strengthen the
County’s fiscal position relative to AAA credit rating benchmarks. It will also avoid
creating new recurring obligations that may become unsustainable when revenue growth
returns to more moderate levels.
● Capital and Debt Management
For FY 2027, limit General Obligation (GO) bond issuance to no more than $75 million
and prioritize the existing backlog of deferred maintenance projects across HCPSS and
County agency facilities. While debt indicators have improved, long-term obligations
remain significant and warrant continued monitoring.

This recommendation reflects three realities:
o The County has incurred additional liabilities, including low-interest loans for the
Ellicott City Safe and Sound project, which increases annual principal and interest
payments from the General Fund.

o New bond issuances commit the County to fixed debt service payments for up to
20 years, reducing future operating flexibility and crowding out funding for core
services such as education and public safety.
o New capital projects typically generate ongoing costs—including follow-on
capital needs and annual staffing, operating, and maintenance expenses—that
extend well beyond initial construction.

● Grow the Economic Pie
A stronger County economy creates a cycle of increased revenue, increased investments,
and greater desirability for businesses and residents to locate in Howard County. There
are limited places where the County can find new revenues, which means when there are
fiscal challenges, there are only two options: raise taxes or cut programs. Encouraging
economic growth helps meet the County’s long-term fiscal needs and provides resilience
to meet future challenges with less austerity. The Committee is encouraged by the
adoption of HoCo by Design, but notes that much of the implementation of its
suggestions has yet to occur. Additionally, the Committee encourages the Council to
review regulatory and permitting mandates that add time, uncertainty, and unnecessary
costs, all of which could be inhibiting investment in our community.

• Develop a Balanced Multi-Year Fiscal Plan in Collaboration with All Stakeholders
  Engage all stakeholders, including election candidates, to promote dialogue and mutual
  understanding of the tradeoffs of different options. Identify solutions to close the
  projected structural gaps between forecasted revenues and requested expenditures by
  different entities.

Funding Gap:

2026 Howard County Economic Task Force Report

Recommendation:

The ECON Task Force’s recommendations include immediate, short-term, and long-term
strategies that require ongoing collaboration between County government, businesses,
nonprofits, and community members.
The ECON Task Force came up with 25 comprehensive recommendations. The top 5
recommendations that are currently in development are:

1. Expand workforce and entrepreneurship support for former federal employees,
   federal contractors and skilled professionals.
2. Collaborate with educational partners to focus youth workforce and
   apprenticeship efforts towards known current and predicted employment gaps
   and high-demand industries.
3. Streamline Internal Review Processes.
4. Optimize permitting and planning through technology.
5. Enhance Consumer-centric Digital Services and Promote Digital Equity
   & Inclusion
   These top five recommendations are considered priority because they are achievable
   within the next year and are positioned for early success. They build on existing
   momentum and strong cross-sector relationships.
   Achieving these priorities will take all partners—government agencies, educators,
   employers, community stakeholders, and technology innovators—working together with
   urgency and shared accountability. Continued acceleration is essential, not optional, if
   Howard County is to remain competitive and resilient. Each of these recommendations
   strengthens the foundation that allows new ideas, new industries, and new solutions
   to grow here, ensuring our economy remains strong, adaptive, and prepared for future
   challenges.
   In many ways, Howard County was better prepared as it had weathered the first federal
   shutdown in 2019, which had been the longest to date. Additionally, over the past
   several months, the ECON Task Force and County government leaders worked to further

implement technology solutions, including AI tools, to modernize services and improve
operations. This early action demonstrates continued responsiveness and momentum.
With increased collaboration and focus, these recommendations can be fully realized in
the year ahead, positioning Howard County as a model for innovation-driven, resilient
economic growth.

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District 9 Team: Senator Katie Fry Hester, Maryland Senate D9, Delegates Chao Wu Natalie Ziegler Courtney Watson wish you Happy Holidays and Happy New Year 2026.