Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) Standard Offer Service & rate increases

Standard Offer Service (current rate)

14.609¢/kWh

Effective June 1, 2026 (current) · last reviewed July 19, 2026

Estimate for comparison — confirm the current rate and all charges with Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) before acting. Not advice.

Next scheduled reset: October 1, 2026 · Seasonal (summer Jun–Sep / winter Oct–May). Every utility's reset calendar →

Of the 4 Maryland utilities we track, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)'s Standard Offer Service is the highest — the range runs from 12.35¢ (Delmarva Power) to 14.609¢ (Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)). Compare all Maryland rates →

What it means: a Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) customer on a 17¢/kWh third-party supplier rate pays about $250 more per year than the Standard Offer Service (14.609¢), based on ~860 kWh/month. The audit below checks your actual rate.

The worth-it line: for a switch to save at least $10/month at ~750 kWh, a supplier offer must be a fixed rate below 13.28¢/kWh — with no monthly fee and no cancellation fee. Offers between 13.28¢ and 14.609¢ technically "beat" the Standard Offer Service but save too little to justify contract risk. The full math, all utilities →

Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) customer service & quick facts

The official ways to reach Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) for outages, billing, and account help. RateWatchdog is independent and not affiliated with Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) — these are the utility's own channels.

Customer service

1-800-685-0123

Mon–Fri 7am–7pm

Report a power outage

1-877-778-2222

Live outage map →

Pay your bill

Pay Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) bill online →

Verified June 15, 2026 · confirm on Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)'s siteHere to check if your rate is too high? Jump to the audit ↓

Is Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) a monopoly? Can you switch?

For delivery, yes — it's a monopoly. Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) is the only company that runs the poles and wires to homes in its territory, so you can't pick a different company to deliver your power. That part is a regulated monopoly: Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), owned by Exelon, can only charge what the MD PSC approves in a rate case.

The electricity itself, though, is open to competition. You can buy your supply from a third-party supplier, or do nothing and stay on Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)'s default rate — the Standard Offer Service the MD PSC oversees. Switching suppliers doesn't change who delivers your power or who you call during an outage; it only changes the supply line on your bill. And if a supplier is charging more than the Standard Offer Service, you can drop it and return to that regulated rate, usually within one or two billing cycles — no fee to the utility.

How often does Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)'s power go out?

Federal reliability data, reported by the utility to the U.S. government. SAIDI is the average total time a customer is without power in a year; SAIFI is the average number of outages.

For Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE), major storms drove roughly 50% of 2024's total outage time — the gap between the two numbers above is weather the utility couldn't fully control.

On normal-day reliability, Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) is the 3rd-most reliable of the 4 Maryland utilities we track — the range runs from 46 min (Pepco (Maryland)) to 2 hr 39 min (Potomac Edison) of typical-day outage time per year.

Source: U.S. EIA Form EIA-861, 2024 reliability data (IEEE 1366 standard), for Baltimore Gas & Electric Co. eia.gov →

How often does Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) disconnect customers for nonpayment?

Utilities report this to the federal government. It counts residential service disconnected for unpaid bills. A high rate isn't proof of wrongdoing — it's shaped by local poverty, climate, and how strong a state's shutoff-protection rules are, as much as by the utility itself.

That's the 3rd-lowest disconnection rate of the 4 Maryland utilities we track — the range runs from 2.1 per 100 (Potomac Edison) to 4.1 per 100 (Delmarva Power).

Counts disconnection events — one household can be shut off more than once. From Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE)'s own filings to the U.S. EIA (Form EIA-112, Residential Utility Disconnections Survey), first collected for 2024. eia.gov →

Where your bill money goes: how Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) earns its profit

Because Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) is a regulated monopoly, its profit isn't set by competing for customers — it's set by regulators. The MD PSC authorizes a target return on equity (around 9.5% to 10.5% for U.S. electric utilities) on the money it sinks into poles, wires, substations, and meters. It's a target, not a guarantee — a utility can earn above or below it — but a low-risk regulated monopoly reliably lands close. You pay that return back, plus the investment itself, through the delivery charge on every bill.

Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) is owned by Exelon. In 2024, Exelon reported about $2.5 billion in net income — its profit across all of the utilities it owns, not Baltimore Gas & Electric (BGE) alone. Source: Exelon's annual report (SEC Form 10-K, fiscal year 2024). SEC EDGAR →

That authorized return is set by regulators on the utility's investment — independently of how reliable the service is or how many customers are disconnected, the two measures above.