Maryland lawmakers grilled local electricity and natural gas providers Wednesday in Annapolis — with one state senator saying a response from a Baltimore Gas and Electric representative amounted to “extortion.”

Representatives for Exelon’s BGE, PEPCO and Delmarva, Potomac Edison and Southern Maryland Electric Cooperative (SMECO) faced the legislative committees that oversee energy issues.

As delegates covered recent rate increases, the multiyear rate plan and natural gas pipeline improvement projects, the messaging from the utility companies stayed the same: The coldest winter since 2014 plus more expensive supply are the main reasons people have been hit with higher bills.

That answer, which the utility companies have given across meetings with federal, state and local elected officials amid public outcry, did not appear to satisfy lawmakers.

“Energy is no good to anyone if they can’t afford it,” said state Sen. Benjamin Brooks, a Baltimore County Democrat.

Gas and electric bills are largely driven by supply rates and delivery rates — and are both regulated by the Maryland Public Service Commission, which had representatives at Wednesday’s hearing.

Factors such as the cold winter and cost of natural gas contribute to higher supply charges.

On the delivery side, capital improvements to the electrical grid, gas pipelines and more cause customer bills to escalate. Some lawmakers and consumer advocates have questioned whether BGE is spending too much on those projects.

BGE’s gas delivery rates have more than tripled since 2010, rising from $0.26 per therm to $0.85 in 2024, exceeding the rate of inflation, according to a report last June from the Maryland Office of the People’s Counsel.

Charles Washington, BGE’s vice president of governmental and external affairs argued that without the capital improvements it is undertaking, delivery of electricity and gas could become shaky.

“We’re willing to have the conversation like, do we value being in the top quartile of reliability, or should we change our level of investment so that we’re at a different level? Right?” Washington said. “I mean, I think that it is a fair question to ask. How do we get together as a state and decide what level of investments are appropriate for the goals?”

That prompted Sen. Mary Washington, a Baltimore Democrat, to respond: “That sounds a little bit like extortion and not a conversation.”

“Frankly, we always get that response when we’re trying to earnestly recognize that you’re a company and you need to make profits,” she continued.

The legislative committees that oversee energy issues join a growing chorus of lawmakers and consumer advocates alarmed by rapidly rising utility bills.

Earlier in the Maryland General Assembly’s session this year, Del. Elizabeth Embry, a Baltimore Democrat, introduced legislation to tackle Baltimore Gas and Electric’s rate hikes on natural gas. She, Attorney General Anthony Brown and others held a news conference Feb. 4 to promote that bill and call attention to the rate hikes.

Also last month, the Baltimore’s City Council and city residents grilled BGE about rate increases, and three Baltimore-area congressional representatives have written to BGE and to the Maryland Public Service Commission, which authorizes the rates of utility companies including BGE, to express concern.

This story will be updated.