Maryland commission says customers can decide where BGE installs gas regulators
BALTIMORE -- Maryland's Public Service Commission ordered Baltimore Gas and Electric on Tuesday to allow customers the option to choose whether they will have a controversial gas pressure regulator installed outside their homes.
Within the next 30 days the company is expected to develop a written notice for customers to be given at least 14 days before an installation.
The notice must inform customers a gas regulator will be installed and give them the choice of exterior or interior installation.
The company installed thousands of exterior regulators across Baltimore City as part of a plan to upgrade low-pressure gas systems to high-pressure systems.
BGE says external gas regulators are safer and provide easier access to first responders, and if they leak, the gas will escape outdoors and not build up inside homes.
Customers who say the external regulators are unsightly and unsafe have been fighting the utility work, with over 100 customers from across the city joining a lawsuit against the company this summer.
In an August hearing with the PSC, BGE lawyers cited several house explosions as a reason the outside equipment is safer, allowing leaks to dissipate outside instead of building up inside homes.
The commission noted Tuesday it "prefers regulators be installed outside of dwellings, but finds that both indoor and outdoor installations are generally permitted by state and federal law if proper engineering standards are followed, and determines that both indoor and outdoor installations are generally safe."
In a statement issued after the ruling, BGE reiterated its preference for external regulators but promised to comply with the commission, saying "we appreciate that customers still can select the safer outdoor option. Safety is, above all, the number one priority in all of our work."
Three customers, now plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the company, were arrested while protesting the utility's service shut-offs because they refused to have the external regulators installed. Charges were later dropped.
The PSC also ruled service shut-offs for customers refusing exterior regulators are not justified.
Last month, the Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation voted to turn down all BGE applications to install external gas regulators unless the homeowner requests it.
The plaintiffs, represented by attorney Thiru Vignarajah, returned to court Tuesday morning for a status hearing in the lawsuit.
Vignarajah said the order from the commission is a victory.
"This is not just a win for the people behind me, it is a win for every resident of Baltimore and beyond," Vignarajah said. "That principle that we get to choose, not BGE, what's best for our communities, what's best for our homes, what's best for us has been vindicated by the public service commission as well as by CHAP."
A judge is allowing people who have filed a lawsuit against BGE to file an amended complaint by the close of business on Friday. The temporary restraining order against BGE - which prohibits the installation of the controversial gas regulators - will remain in place during that time.