Maryland’s biggest utilities told state regulators Wednesday that speedy approvals for their smart grid initiatives would put them in the best position to get federal stimulus money in early October.
But staff members of the Public Service Commission advised commissioners that moving faster than the suggested schedule, with hearing dates from Oct. 15 through Oct. 19, would be difficult because of the PSC’s jammed schedule.
“We collectively have a concern that we want to make sure when we do this we do it right,” said Douglas R.M. Nazarian, chairman of the PSC.
“We have some important decisions to make about what we’re going to do in this state in terms smartening — if that’s a word — the grid and where on the continuum of completely stupid to completely brilliant we want to land,” he said.
The utilities, Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., Delmarva Power and Potomac Electric Power Co., are clamoring for a slice of the $3.9 billion in smart grid funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, to technologically advance the nation’s electric grid.
The U.S. Department of Energy has said it will issue grants beginning in mid-October, and it will give additional merit to smart grid plans that have gotten regulatory approval. While approval is not needed to win funding, the DOE does require a timeline for regulatory hearings.
Stimulus funds are meant to be quickly deployed to pump money into the economy and create new jobs. All three utilities stressed that projects that are ready to move forward quickly will probably have a better chance of getting federal grants.
“I don’t think really there’s much … question that applications that have regulatory approval and that start quicker are going to score better in the DOE evaluation process than those that don’t,” said Mark Case, senior vice president for regulatory affairs at BGE.
