In and around Baltimore, many people continue to rely on an energy system built with 19th-century technology and now-obsolete materials to heat their homes and cook their food. An upgrade is long overdue.
Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. operates the oldest natural gas system in the country. While most of our 700,000 gas customers are served by modern equipment, tens of thousands are connected to an antiquated, cast iron main that was the technology of choice in the 1800s because it was cheap and convenient. These pipes now leak at 100 times the rate of their plastic replacements.
As directed by state and federal regulators, BGE moves thousands of customers from aging equipment to new pipes every year. We aren’t waiting for more leaks or worse to happen to do what is right for Marylanders. Nearly 350 miles of aging natural gas main has already been replaced at an accelerated pace under Maryland’s 2013 Strategic Infrastructure Development and Enhancement law, which was passed by legislators to ensure a safe and reliable system for all Marylanders. Over 40 more miles are approved for replacement in 2025.
This work ought not to be controversial. Preventing leaks improves safety, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and makes the gas system more resilient.
Unfortunately, a cadre of influential voices are saying “stop.” They claim these upgrades aren’t worth the cost, and they want lawmakers in Annapolis to yield to activism over action with the deceptively named Ratepayer Protection Act. They claim that repairing century-old cast iron each time a leak occurs is a viable option even though it doesn’t decrease the probability of future leaks. Repeated proactive and reactive repairs are extraordinarily disruptive to customers; they’re also costly, with negligible long-term benefit. Most importantly, replacement of these very old pipes is required by federal and state law for safety. The propaganda that these upgrades are not needed is irresponsible and dangerous, placing Marylanders at risk while ignoring the overwhelming majority of consumers who want to keep natural gas as an energy option.
Their true goal — eliminating the availability and use of natural gas altogether — is antithetical to their stated goal of stemming customer bill increases.
The natural gas system delivers far more energy on the coldest day of the year than the electric system delivers on the hottest day of the year. Adding 700,000 more heat pumps and other major electric appliances to the grid would require extensive and expensive infrastructure build-out.
Full electrification would require BGE to build or upgrade roughly one substation a month, every month, for the next 20 years, on top of making other major infrastructure enhancements in every community we serve. The bill’s impact would far exceed the cost of continuing to operate BGE’s natural gas system.
Many critics of BGE’s gas work claim it is purely a cash grab for shareholders. To be clear: No path forward would be more of a boon to BGE’s profitability than forcing all Marylanders to electrify. Maintaining BGE’s natural gas system greatly reduces the costs that would be associated with an all-electric system.
Anti-natural gas zealots also conveniently leave out that even all-electric customers are reliant on fossil fuels: 74% of electricity generation in our transmission region is powered by natural gas, coal or oil. They also don’t highlight that electricity is getting more expensive due to policies that drive power plant closures and repel power plant development, combined with a constrained transmission grid burdened with growing demand.
Anyone who is serious about safety and fighting climate change should celebrate cast iron replacement. Leaks on BGE’s underground gas infrastructure decreased 31% and hazardous underground leaks decreased 41% from 2013 to 2023, progress driven largely by aging infrastructure upgrades.
That’s why the federal government has repeatedly urged utilities to replace aging cast iron main to mitigate risk. Most recently, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued a report to Congress that stated, “Cast iron material poses many integrity risks … Replacement is the long-term solution to ensure pipeline integrity.” And the federal government is doubling down. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law allocated $1 billion in funding to municipal gas utilities to fund the replacement and upgrading of their outmoded infrastructure.
BGE does not unilaterally decide to replace aging gas infrastructure; this work meets PHMSA objectives and complies with federal and state guidelines and policy. Despite the work we’ve done, Maryland continues to lag. While cast iron represents just 1% of the 2.4 million miles of distribution main in the United States, it represents 12% of BGE’s system. All remaining 900 miles need to be replaced.
Anti-gas interests would have you ignore federal guidelines requiring the identification and mitigation of pipeline risks, ignore federal recommendations supporting replacement over repair for cast iron pipes, ignore the U.S. government’s investment of taxpayer dollars in municipal utility pipeline upgrades, ignore the overwhelming number of state regulatory bodies that encourage cast iron replacement programs, ignore the significant expense that customers would face to fully electrify and ignore the science and what’s best for customers in favor of an unpopular anti-gas ideology.
Here’s the reality: BGE’s gas customer base grows every year. Seventy percent of Marylanders oppose a ban on natural gas. Of the 33,500 customers who were asked if they plan to electrify rather than connect to an upgraded and safer gas system, only one has done so. Most importantly, Maryland has no law on the books or policy in place to retire the gas system.
Maryland’s ambitious climate goals will advance our state toward a more electrified future. Natural gas must continue to play an important role — for affordability, feasibility and resiliency. If, however, legislators want to change directions, there’s a new cost conversation we need to have in earnest, before it’s too late.
Dawn White is vice president of gas distribution at Baltimore Gas and Electric Co.
