Court ruling doesn't let PSC off the hook for huge rate hikes

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Court ruling doesn’t let PSC off the hook for huge rate hikes

By THE CAPITAL EDITORIAL BOARD

Last week’s state Court of Appeals decision on the Public Service Commission is hardly good news for Democrats. This is the third time courts have rebuffed efforts by the party’s legislative leaders to have their way at the expense of the Republican governor.

Earlier, a federal court nixed a law that forced Wal-Mart to pay more for employee health care. Then the state Court of Appeals upheld a lower court judge who invalidated early voting.

On Thursday, the court ruled that the legislature cannot replace members of the Public Service Commission. The bill was enacted – over the veto of Gov. Robert Ehrlich Jr. – because the legislature sought to turn out the PSC members who had agreed to let Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. raise electric rates by 72 percent.

However good this looks for the governor, and however much fodder this provides for the two gubernatorial campaigns, the court’s decision does not change a core issue: The old PSC must go. We don’t care if the house-cleaning is done by legislative fiat or by the governor, as long as it is done.

The legislature, led by some Democrats who are still in office, approved deregulation in 1999 in the hope that an open, competitive market would lead to lower power rates. When that didn’t happen and the freeze on electric rates expired, power suppliers sought an exorbitant rate hike to catch up.

If the fault for this lies with lawmakers who approved deregulation in 1999, voters have an opportunity in November to make legislators pay for their mistake.

But state leaders also have an obligation to make members of the PSC pay. This is the board that negotiated with Constellation Energy and then approved an immediate 72 percent rate hike. It’s the board that will eventually approve Constellation’s merger with Florida Power and Light. It is also the board whose chairman, Kenneth Schisler, left a trail of e-mails showing a cozy relationship with a utility lobbyist.

The PSC failed to stand up for consumer rights as it approved an unconscionable rate hike and cleared the way for a merger lucrative for Constellation officials. This is dereliction of duty – more than enough reason to seek new members.

The court’s ruling leaves behind general confusion about the impact on the proposed merger, as another provision passed by the legislature requires that a “new” board make that decision. That matter still needs to resolved, and soon – no matter what you think of Constellation, the company deserves a clear answer to its merger request.

What is clear from this ruling is that the legislature cannot use its authority to reconstruct public bodies just because it is disappointed by their decisions. But the PSC must be held accountable for its actions – and the power to demand that accountability now rests with the governor.

Published September 17, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.

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