Maryland Can Bring Down Unaffordable Utility Bills

November 10, 2026 — Press Release

Policymakers Must Adopt Programs to Help Marylanders Stay Connected

WASHINGTON – Unaffordable utility bills are stressing Maryland families. While state lawmakers have taken important steps to help families afford their energy bills, they must do more to help struggling households. 

A new issue brief, What Maryland Can Do to Improve Energy Affordability, identifies targeted improvements to low-income energy assistance provided by the state’s Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP) and provides recommendations to help families combat utility rate increases and expensive policy failures related to the increased load of Virginia’s data centers.  

“There is still more that Maryland can do to help the large number of families burdened with utility debt,” said Olivia Wein, senior attorney at the National Consumer Law Center. “Maryland should keep building on its work to improve affordability program enrollment and ensure that the most under-resourced households are not left behind.”

Low-income customers had over $42 million in arrearages in FY 2026, but enrollment in the state’s affordability program was far below the estimated need. Affordability programs help families to stay connected to utility service, and they can help bring down costs for all ratepayers by reducing bad debt, collection actions, and disconnections.

Maryland’s regulated electric and gas companies will be implementing a tiered discount program in January 2027, and customers of these utilities who apply for energy assistance through OHEP will automatically receive utility help designed to make their energy bills affordable.

Additionally, Maryland leadership should take the following steps to lower household utility costs:

• Help households with utility debt get back on their feet with Arrearage Management Programs, which help customers resolve utility debt and pay their future bills.
• Fund outreach and promotion of the residential customer assistance program (R-CAP), which will immediately help limited-means Marylanders afford their utility bills.
• Use the SNAP participation database to identify and automatically enroll eligible low-income older adults into OHEP assistance. 
• Fund non-profits to help limited income homeowners navigate and stack all available energy efficiency and clean energy benefits and incentives.

• Support more resources for energy efficiency programs that help economically disadvantaged households.
• Listen to local communities and their objections to data centers. 

The brief warns against several potentially harmful ideas that would make  energy even less affordable. Lawmakers must not: 

• Shrink investments in energy efficiency programs, particularly programs targeted to households with limited means.
• Replace energy efficiency programs with more household debt. Financing could add to the household debt burden and increase the risk of utility disconnection.
• Present budget billing as an affordable solution. It cannot replace strong bill discounts and AMP programs for eligible families.
• Propose prepaid utility service to address affordability. With prepaid service, struggling households are at greater risk of disconnection.

Related Resources

• Lowering Household Utility Costs: A Policy Roadmap for State Action (Pennsylvania Snapshot) (Georgia Snapshot), Sept. 10, 2026
• Report Calls for Ban on Utility Disconnections During Extreme Heat, July 7, 2026
• New Data Shows Alarming Rise in Home Energy Insecurity, March 26, 2026
• What States Can Do to Help Consumers: Energy Insecurity, June 16, 2025