The Maryland Public Service Commission is requiring Baltimore Gas and Electric to mitigate the effects of an impending supply-side rate increase for customers.

BGE customers are bracing for an expected bill increase of $16 per month starting Sunday. And that hike follows months of high utility bills tied to heavy usage during the cold winter, higher natural gas supply costs and major utility infrastructure projects.

The commission’s new order requires BGE to “shift recovery of some supply costs to lower-usage months over a six-month period,” according to the Friday press release from the Public Service Commission.

That means customers will essentially pay less of the electricity supply-related bill increases in the summer and winter when utility bills are typically the most expensive and more during the spring and fall, a less costly time of year for ratepayers.

The commission’s action doesn’t undo its approval of a delivery-side rate hike that went into effect earlier this year but it could help flatten bills and mitigate some summer sticker shock.

“The Commission took these actions to mitigate the impacts felt by customers as a result of higher-than-expected energy costs, coupled with potential high usage in the coming months,” said Frederick Hoover, chairman of the Public Service Commission.

Richard Yost, a BGE spokesman, said the utility company “will continue working with the Commission and parties to mitigate the impact of higher energy costs for our customers.”

This Public Service Commission’s move comes after demands from ratepayer advocates, lawmakers and the commission itself for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to prevent a steep increase in electric bills due to last year’s capacity auction market.

The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, a consumer advocate, said it applauds the commission’s “intention to mitigate the impacts to BGE customers of the capacity market price increases.”

The capacity auction market is the process PJM Interconnection, the region’s power grid operator, uses to procure adequate energy supply resources to meet peak loads and reliability standards for the following delivery year.

Supply costs in PJM’s service area increased from $2.2 billion in the 2024-2025 capacity auction market to $14.7 billion for 2025-2026. That’s what is reflected in the coming $16-per-month average bill increase.

When asked about the letter sent to FERC officials from Democratic lawmakers May 20, a representative for FERC said it does not comment on pending matters.

A representative for PJM said the 2025-2026 auction prices “were just and reasonable” and that “it is not legally possible to adjust the auction results at this time. And there is no reason to do so, as all actions were in accordance with the rules.”

The commission’s new order notes it is taking an exceptional action because it “finds it in the interest of ratepayers to shift some recovery of supply costs to lower-cost months, in the interest of gradualism and avoidance of rate shock.”

Between the increases on BGE’s delivery charges and now the supply-side rise, ratepayers are being hit with a “double whammy,” said Emily Scarr, senior adviser with Maryland PIRG Foundation, a nonprofit public interest research group.

Scarr said there’s more all of the stakeholders involved could do to save ratepayers amid an energy crisis.