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Montgomery County council holds hearing on rising utility costs
If you feel like your utility bills keep going up and up, you’re not alone. A Montgomery County councilmember on Thursday questioned water, gas and electric companies about the issue and how people can get help. FOX 5's Homa Bash is live in Rockville tonight with the details.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Md. - If you feel like your utility bills keep going up and up, you’re not alone.
A Montgomery County councilmember on Thursday questioned water, gas and electric companies about the issue and how people can get help.
What we know:
Many people are struggling with how high their bills have gotten, and the crux of it is, there's more demand on the grid.
But not all that power is going to Montgomery County. It's also going to data centers to the south.
"We need state and federal lawmakers to figure out a better path forward because our own community should not be shouldering the burden for data centers operating in other parts of the country," Montgomery County councilmember Evan Glass said.
Complaints rise:
The Maryland Public Service Commission's Consumer Affairs team says they have seen a 79% increase in complaints from residents from 2024 to 2025 — most of them surrounding affordability.
"When we get meter complaints, its people in stark disbelief that their bills are what they are," Maryland Public Service Commission Stephanie Bolton said. "They think there has to be some technical issue that's causing there's no way my bill should be this high for this kind of usage."
Dig deeper:
Maryland imports 60% of its energy. The biggest drivers of higher utility bills for people in the state are extreme weather and increasing distribution rates.
For example, Pepco's delivery charges have increased 33 percent since 2020, and, thanks to the explosion of data centers in surrounding states, we've seen a dramatic rise in energy costs, capacity costs, and transmission costs.
"All those costs are hitting residential customers and they're a result of our failure to adjust the way regulation works as fast as the data centers are growing," said David Lapp with the Maryland People's Counsel.
What you can do:
There is help available if you're having problems paying your utility bills.
WSSC Water says they have a million dollars to give to customers, up to $750 per household, and are just waiting for people to apply.
Pepco and Washington Gas have similar hardship programs as well, but oftentimes the issue is that these are for low-income families, when just about everyone is dealing with higher costs.