(BALTIMORE – July 16, 2026) – One of the best parts of journalism is admitting when you don’t know something.
During my recent interview with Baltimore Gas and Electric President and CEO Tamla Olivier, she asked me a question I wasn’t expecting.
She explained that, just a few years ago, wholesale electricity capacity prices in our region had been around $29 per megawatt-day. Today, she said, they’re closer to $329. Then she looked at me and asked what that should mean.
Looking back, I don’t think I gave my best answer.
Maybe I sensed a trick question. Maybe I didn’t fully understand how wholesale electricity markets work. Whatever the reason, I answered based on what I thought I knew at the time.
But journalism isn’t about pretending to know everything.
It’s about learning.
Too often, we expect journalists to arrive already knowing every answer. That’s not how good reporting works. My responsibility isn’t to know everything on day one. My responsibility is to ask questions, keep digging, challenge assumptions—including my own—and share what I learn with the public.
I learned that interviewing someone about an issue is not the same thing as understanding it. The interview was the beginning of the reporting—not the end of it.
So, after the cameras stopped rolling, I kept working.
I spent days reading Maryland Public Service Commission materials, Office of People’s Counsel testimony, Exelon corporate filings, Maryland General Assembly legislation, and commentary from consumer advocates and business leaders. I spoke with people on multiple sides of the issue.
And I learned something.
So What Does $29 Becoming $329 Actually Mean?
It means demand for electricity has grown much faster than supply.
The figure Tamla referenced comes from the regional wholesale electricity capacity market operated by PJM Interconnection, which serves Maryland and a dozen other states. Capacity is bought and sold through competitive auctions designed to ensure there will be enough electricity available to meet future demand. When there isn’t enough generation available to comfortably meet that demand, auction prices can increase dramatically.
Those higher wholesale capacity costs eventually work their way into customers’ electric bills—even though Baltimore Gas and Electric didn’t generate the electricity itself.
That’s where Tamla Olivier’s explanation holds up.
Under Maryland’s current regulatory framework, BGE is a transmission and distribution utility. It delivers electricity. It maintains the poles, wires, substations, and gas infrastructure. But it does not own competitive electricity generation assets. Under today’s law, it cannot simply decide to build and operate power plants.
When Tamla told me BGE isn’t in a position to generate electricity “from a policy perspective,” she was accurately describing Maryland’s utility system as it exists today.
I didn’t fully appreciate that during the interview.
I do now.
But That’s Not the Whole Story
After I posted a clip from our conversation, an interesting discussion unfolded on Facebook between two people I respect: Wayne Frazier Sr., president of the Maryland Washington Minority Companies Association, and attorney and consumer advocate Tonya Baña.
Wayne defended Tamla’s explanation of current Maryland law.
Tonya wasn’t arguing with the law.
She was talking about history.
Her point was that until 2022, Exelon—the parent company of BGE—also owned one of the nation’s largest competitive power generation businesses. In 2022, Exelon voluntarily separated that business into Constellation Energy, explaining to investors that each company would be better positioned to pursue its own business strategy and create greater shareholder value.
The legal separation between utilities and competitive generation actually dates back much earlier, to Maryland’s electric restructuring law. But Tonya’s point was different.
She argued that Exelon’s corporate decision also shaped today’s energy landscape and deserves to be part of the public conversation.
As I watched Wayne and Tonya debate, something became clear.
They weren’t really disagreeing.
They were answering two different questions.
Wayne was answering:
What can BGE legally do today?
Tonya was answering:
How did we arrive at today’s energy system?
Those are different questions.
Both deserve answers.
Understanding the difference helps explain why so many conversations about energy seem to go in circles.
The Bigger Story
The deeper I dug, the more I realized my interview wasn’t just about BGE.
It was about Maryland’s energy future.
During our conversation, Tamla Olivier argued that Maryland needs more electricity generation if we hope to lower prices, attract businesses, and remain economically competitive.
That wasn’t simply an interview talking point.
It became the subject of a major legislative debate during the 2026 session of the Maryland General Assembly.
Among the most closely watched proposals were House Bill 1404 and House Bill 1561, known as the Affordable Energy Act.
Delegate Teresa Reilly sponsored House Bill 1404, while Delegate Pamela Queen sponsored House Bill 1561. Although different in scope, both measures sought to expand the ability of investor-owned electric companies to participate more directly in electricity generation.
Supporters argued that Maryland cannot continue importing large amounts of electricity from neighboring states while expecting prices to remain affordable, businesses to relocate here, and emerging industries like artificial intelligence and data centers to flourish.
Opposition came from multiple directions.
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, whose mission is to represent residential utility customers, opposed the legislation. Environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club, also raised concerns, while business organizations—including the Maryland Washington Minority Companies Association—supported efforts to increase in-state electricity generation.
Both House Bill 1404 and House Bill 1561 received hearings before the House Environment and Transportation Committee.
Neither became law.
Instead, lawmakers approved the Utility RELIEF (Reducing Energy Load Inflation for Everyday Families) Act, sponsored by House Speaker Adrienne A. Jones and Senator Brian Feldman. Governor Wes Moore signed it into law as Chapter 353.
The legislation addressed affordability, large electricity users, grid planning, and customer protections, while stopping short of authorizing investor-owned utilities to once again own and operate generation facilities.
That’s significant.
It tells us Maryland lawmakers recognized the seriousness of the state’s energy challenges, but they chose a different policy path than the one proposed in House Bill 1404 and House Bill 1561.
Why This Matters
This is no longer simply a conversation about Baltimore Gas and Electric.
It’s a conversation about Maryland’s future.
Artificial intelligence.
Data centers.
Advanced manufacturing.
Biotechnology.
Electric vehicles.
Quantum computing.
Every one of these industries depends on reliable, abundant, and affordable electricity.
Every state in America is wrestling with the same questions.
How much electricity will we need?
Who should build new generation?
Who should regulate it?
Who should profit from it?
And perhaps the biggest question of all:
Who should pay for it?
Those aren’t abstract policy debates.
They’re questions that arrive every month in the utility bills Maryland families open at their kitchen tables.
My interview with Tamla Olivier didn’t answer all of those questions.
It raised better ones.
That’s exactly what good journalism is supposed to do.
Over the coming weeks, I hope to continue this conversation by inviting representatives from BGE, Exelon, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, legislators, economists, environmental organizations, engineers, business leaders, and consumer advocates to sit at the same table.
Not because I already know the answers.
But because Maryland deserves a better understanding of the questions.
If this article does nothing else, I hope it encourages more Marylanders to ask thoughtful questions—not only of BGE, lawmakers, regulators, and consumer advocates—but also of journalists like me.
Good journalism shouldn’t ask readers to simply trust us.
It should show our work.
Energy will shape this century the way oil shaped the last.
The decisions Maryland makes today will determine not only what we pay to keep the lights on, but who benefits from the next generation of economic opportunity.
That’s a conversation worth having.
And I believe we’re just getting started.
