BGE means Behemoth Giving Enema (to all Maryland residents)….

The Maryland General Assembly Passes Electric Rate Legislation

On July 1, BGE's residential electric rates will be updated to reflect the market price for electricity, and as a result, your electric bill will increase significantly. To help customers manage the rising cost of electricity, the Maryland Legislature passed a law. BGE is providing this information to help you understand how this law impacts your electric bill. The current law replaces all previous electric rate stabilization plans.

This law is not optional and all customers, per legislative directive, are participants. Whether you opted-in, opted-out or were still making up your mind, NO ACTION is required.

Watch your mail for more information.

(from BGE’s website, www.bge.com)

I actually had to read this twice to make sure I was seeing straight…and then I had to read it again. There’s no opting out of the legislation recently passed by the Maryland General Assembly. This legislation limits what would have been a 72% increase to our electric bill to a 15% increase. OK, that’s kind of better, but we will be paying a two dollar monthly fee to support this benevolence FOR THE NEXT TEN YEARS! At the end of the first eleven months, the electric rate would then go up to the original 72%, unless the customer decides on another deferral plan….which may result in additional fees. As I understand it, even if you opt for the increase to the full 72% in eleven months, YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY THE FEE OVER THE NEXT NINE YEARS. This monthly fee will also be assessed on new customers to BGE, regardless of how long they have lived at an address. So folks, we’re pretty much screwed and Constellation, BGE’s parent company, is laughing all the way to the bank.

And who do we have to thank for this additional pull on our already strained pockets? Our elected officials of course! Instead of locking BGE customers into a decade-long nickel-and-dime cycle, maybe the General Assembly should have focused on other alternatives. For example, the state of Maryland currently gives grants to families for the installation of whole-house solar energy systems, as well as solar water heaters. You also have the option of remaining connected to the grid and making any excess power available on a buy back basis to utility companies. This is money that goes directly into homeowners’ pockets. Sounds like a real step forward, right? The problem is, these grants only cover 1/10th of the cost of the installation, which can range from $7,000 to over $20,000. Kind of negates all the good of the program, right? I mean, look at the advantages: less dependence on fossil fuels, less pollution to the environment...I could go on for days. Do I have to ask how does this NOT make sense?

Another option they should have examined: a state tax credit for hybrid vehicles. Currently, the IRS gives you a tax credit if you purchase a hybrid vehicle during any given tax year. Say you purchase that trippy little Toyota Prius in June or a Ford Escape Hybrid in November. Come next April 15, you can collect up to $2,800 in tax credits from the IRS. OK, let me rephrase that. THE IRS IS GIVING YOU MONEY FOR BUYING A CAR. The drawback is you only get the tax credit for you year of purchase. Other than being the envy of all who sit in traffic with you for years to come, you get zero, zilch, nada…except that your wallet is a little bit fuller because you have fewer trips to the pump. Maryland could do one better than the IRS and elect to give residents a tax credit for each year they own the vehicle, with a maximum each year of $500. Another radical idea, maybe Maryland should also give breaks to those who indulge in the sins of public transportation. If you ride the bus, you get a credit on your mortgage or renter’s insurance up to $50 per month.

By passing this really bad legislation, the General Assembly was trying to do too much. By tacking on to the bill the double-whammy of firing the PSC and the limitations on the future Constellation/FPL merger, it was trying to repair a hot-topic problem during an election year; always a bad time to institute radical changes. Since this is an election year, I think it’s time for broader minds to prevail. We are smack-dab in the middle of an energy crisis, people, even though you don’t hear it every day on CNN.

Maybe these thoughts will guide your voting on Election Day. Make your candidates square off on the issue that really matters to you: the rising price of fuel in all its forms.

Welcome to Baltimore! Get in on Gridlock!

Note to the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitor’s Association: for conventions with over 20,000 attendees, please give area residents a little more warning!

With 50,000 to 80,000 convention attendees patronizing city businesses and restaurants, as well as tying up roads with foot and vehicle traffic, wouldn’t it make sense to let your area residents know with something more than an “Oh, by the way…”? Of course it does. I remember hearing something out of the corner of my ear on the news Sunday night that amounted to "We've got these folks from out-of-town coming in. Can you leave the light on for them?" Shouldn’t the descent of a massive group of people warrant the same coverage as severe weather or breaking news? It has already turned so many lives upside down that it could probably be held in the same category as a hurricane or hostage situation.

During the Tuesday morning commute, the usual challenges of merging and yielding the right of way were evident, but add the additional activities of cursing, riding the shoulder and hard braking made an already rough morning that much worse. Toss into the mix that Russell Street construction is still ongoing and, well…..you do the math.

I could tell from the commuter traffic this morning that people were more prepared for the delays. There was still the gridlock and backups, but you could see people being more flexible, really pulling on their yoga and meditation skills trying to stay calm, keeping at least one car length between them and the car in front of them, trying not to ride the breaks, etc. Of course there are always a few idiots who drive like the normal assholes that they are, hoping against hope that everyone in their way will just disappear. Shame on them and on BACVA: no one got the memo on this one.

I’m glad I had already planned to take Friday off….only one more day of the messy morning commute!

For a full article on the convention and its effects, see http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bal-bz.baptist21jun21,0,2611148.story?coll=bal-home-headlines.

Travelogue...

I found these ticket stubs while cleaning out my office today. We've been to Egypt twice, once in November 2001 and the second in October 2003. The first time we went, everyone told us we were crazy to go to a Middle Eastern country so soon after September 11th, but we had been planning the trip for months and weren't going to cancel. We left the US on Thanksgiving Day and returned nine days later. It is the only time we've had an airport to ourselves. I think the combination of the holiday and the events in September made it more like a ghost town than an urban transportation hub. It was nice!

The entire time we were traveling in Egypt in 2001, we had no problems or difficulties with the locals. They were courteously interested and did not talk with us about September 11th at all. We visted lot of locations in Cairo, then flew to Luxor and stayed for a couple of days. Save for a few incidents where persistent merchants attempted to separate us from our money, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay.

The second time we went in 2003 we only stayed for two days in Cairo, then flew to Aswan to take a cruise down the Nile. I say "down the Nile" because according to the flow of the river it's true. The Nile flows from Central Africa to the Mediterranean, from south to north. If you were to sail from Luxor to Abu Simbel and the Sudan border, you would be sailing up the Nile. Anyway, the cruise was really cool even though our room was right under the bar. We were the only Americans on the boat which was a surprise.

Traveling internationally has definitely changed the way I look at my own little corner of the world. It's given me more of a sense of place and of home and family. I travel not only to get away from my life "as-is", but also to have experiences that are different from my own so far. I love seeing new things, trying new foods, meeting new people. Everyone should step outside their comfort zone at least once in their life and do something completely out of the ordinary.