The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) is an independent administrative agency within the

state government A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonom ...

which regulates

public utilities A public utility company (usually just utility) is an organization that maintains the infrastructure for a public service (often also providing a service using that infrastructure). Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and ...

and certain taxi cab and other passenger services in

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. Similar to other state

public utilities commission In the United States, it is a governing body of a utility. In Canada, it is a utility, not a regulatory body. Canada In Canada, a public utilities commission (PUC) is a public utility owned and operated by a municipal or local government under ...

s, the Maryland PSC regulates and sets

tariff A tariff is a tax imposed by the government of a country or by a supranational union on imports or exports of goods. Besides being a source of revenue for the government, import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade and p ...

rates for

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbon d ...

electricity distribution Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmissi ...

, local telephone,

water Water (chemical formula ) is an inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living organisms (in which it acts as ...

, and

sewage disposal Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envi ...

companies. The PSC also sets the tariff rates for pilot services for vessels and privately owned

toll bridge A toll bridge is a bridge where a monetary charge (or '' toll'') is required to pass over. Generally the private or public owner, builder and maintainer of the bridge uses the toll to recoup their investment, in much the same way as a toll road ...

s, approves the construction of electric generating plants and overhead transmission lines with a voltage above 69 kV, and licenses retail natural gas and electricity suppliers. The PSC offices are located in

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

in the William Donald Schaefer Building.

Members of the Public Service Commission

The five PSC commissioners serve staggered five-year terms, are appointed by the

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

, and are confirmed by the

Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...

. By statute the commissioners must be representative of the state's regions and demographics. The current commissioners are Jason M. Stanek (chairman), Michael T. Richard, Anthony J. O'Donnell, Odogwu Obi Linton, and Patrice M. Bubar.

Agency operations

The PSC enforces the state statutes in the Public Utilities article of the

Annotated Code of Maryland The Annotated Code of Maryland, published by The Michie Company, is the official codification of the statutory laws of Maryland. It is organized into 36 named articles. The previous code, organized into numbered articles, has been repealed. Amend ...

. Hearings on matters subject to the jurisdiction of the PSC are conducted before the Commission or by its public utility law judges (PULJs). The PSC has an independent division of PULJs who issue proposed orders, which may be appealed to the Commission. Most hearings are held in the PSC offices in Maryland, but state statutes require public hearings for some subject matter to be held in the county or municipality affected by the proceeding. Final orders are issued by the Commission and are subject to

judicial review Judicial review is a process under which executive, legislative and administrative actions are subject to review by the judiciary. A court with authority for judicial review may invalidate laws, acts and governmental actions that are incomp ...

in the state circuit courts. The PSC publishes a selection of its orders each year along with its annual report to the

in its own case reporter.

History

Supported by a plank in the

Maryland Democratic Party The Maryland Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Maryland, headquartered in Annapolis. The current state party chair is Yvette Lewis. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling all but one ...

state electoral platform to enact a regulatory utility law and by Governor Austin Crothers, the PSC was established in 1910. The initial purpose of the PSC was to fix the rates of steam railroads, street railways, ferries, toll bridges, and gas, electric, heating, water, telegraph, telephone, and water utilities, but the PSC also had the authority to hear complaints about service.
Note: Bogen notes in his footnotes that in Henry G. Burke's work on the Public Service Commission of Maryland 124, 131-57 (1932). In a study of the PSC, the author (Burke) devoted a chapter to valuation and rate cases, id. at 131-57, but mentioned racial complaints only once, when listing the complaints in cases to vacate orders of the Commission. Id. at 124-25. In December 1911, William Ashbie Hawkins represented several plaintiffs before the PSC protesting against the segregated conditions both in boats and trains under the state's

Jim Crow laws The Jim Crow laws were state and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the Southern United States. Other areas of the United States were affected by formal and informal policies of segregation as well, but many states outside the S ...

. In October 1911, Hawkins, outraged at poor sleeping and eating conditions for black people on Chesapeake Bay ferryboats, took the

Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic Railway The Baltimore, Chesapeake and Atlantic railroad, nicknamed Black Cinders & Ashes, ran from Claiborne, Maryland (with steamship connections to Baltimore), to Ocean City, Maryland. It operated of center-line track and of sidings.Interstate Co ...

Company to court. Though his complaint was dismissed, the PSC did recommend, on February 13, 1912, that the company upgrade its facilities for black peopleArchives of Maryland, (Biographical Series), W. Ashbie Hawkins (1861-1941), MSA SC 3520-12415. and occasionally required upgrades to facilities consistent with the "

separate but equal Separate but equal was a legal doctrine in United States constitutional law, according to which racial segregation did not necessarily violate the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which nominally guaranteed "equal protec ...

" requirements of that time. A series of complaints were filed in 1911 challenging conditions faced by

African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...

s on steam boats regulated by the PSC due to the segregated facilities provided under the recently enacted Maryland Jim Crow laws.
In 1999, legislation titled the Electric Customer Choice and Competition Act of 1999 was enacted to restructure the electric industry and electric generation was deregulated.

Electric generating plants

Although the PSC, as a result of the 1999 deregulation of the state electric industry, no longer regulates the cost of electricity generated in plants located in Maryland, it still is responsible for the approval of electric generating plants and transmission lines and for the approval of certain modifications.

, Pub. Utils. § 7-207. An entity planning to construct or modify a generation plant or transmission line must receive a Certificate of Public Convenience and Necessity (CPCN) from the PSC. An application for a CPCN must first be filed with the PSC and is then reviewed before a PULJ in a formal adjudicatory process, which includes an opportunity for public participation. Since the PSC is an independent commission, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Power Plant Research Program (PPRP) is responsible for the coordination of the State agencies' review. This coordinated review process allows the State to examine potential impacts upon its natural and cultural resources, environment and economy and typically culminates in a set of recommended licensing conditions. In addition, the PSC Staff and a State agency charged with protecting the interests of electricity ratepayers, the Office of People's Council (OPC), intervenes in the case and can present their arguments and opinions. Upon completion of the adjudicatory and public hearings, the PULJ will issue a proposed order. After a period which an appeal can be made to the full commission, a final order is released either granting or denying the application. Certain small generating plants, including most emergency generators, are approved using an abbreviated process. Although there are approximately 40 generating plants that provide power for customers in the state, Maryland imported about 35% of its electricity from neighboring states in 2008. Base load coal and nuclear generating plants generate the greater portion of electricity in Maryland. Coal-fired plants producing 39.3% of the state's electric generation in 2008 with nuclear plants generating 13.8%, oil and gas plants 41.2%, and hydroelectric plants and other renewables providing the remainder. In a 2010 report the PSC reported that 70% of the electric generating capacity in the state came from plants that were over 30 years old. , the

Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. Federal tribunals in the United States, federal court cases, and over Stat ...

was reviewing whether Maryland is allowed to subsidize new power plants.

Passenger carriers

Passenger carriers (including taxicabs) operating intrastate in Maryland must obtain a certificate to operate in Maryland. Carriers operating in Montgomery or Prince George's Counties that will also operate interstate into Washington, DC, or the cities and counties in Virginia that border Washington must also register with the

Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Commission or WMATC is a regulatory agency established by the Washington Metropolitan Area Regulation Compact, an interstate compact established between the Commonwealth of Virginia, the District of Colum ...

References

External links

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Map of Maryland Public Service Commission service areas
{{authority control Public utilities commissions of the United States

Public Service A public service is any service intended to address specific needs pertaining to the aggregate members of a community. Public services are available to people within a government jurisdiction as provided directly through public sector agencies ...

1910 establishments in Maryland