Fort Howard Community Associations is exploring with Baltimore Gas & Electric, Baltimore County, Maryland State, and the Federal government officials supplying natural gas service to Fort Howard residents.
Currently residents along the North Point Road corridor and Chestnut Avenue have gas main connection availability leaving Todd, Bayside, Howard, Old Bay, Fort, and Blank residents subject to extremely prohibitive connection costs.
Connection fees quoted from Baltimore Gas & Electric to Todd, Bayside, Howard, Old Bay, Fort, and Blank residents are in the TENS of thousands of dollars.
Residents of Todd’s Farm and Denton Avenue have voiced their desire for natural gas service from Baltimore Gas & Electric.
To Fort Howard Community Association’s understanding Baltimore Gas & Electric is a distribution gas and electric utility possessing the economic benefit of lawfully operating monopolistically, provided the efficiencies of the monopoly prove a greater benefit to the residents of Maryland in comparison to a competitive market with multiple gas and electric distributors seeking customers.
Over-site of Baltimore Gas & Electric is provided by the Maryland Public Service Commission and the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel
With the federally mandated break up of, for example Bell Telephone’s monopoly decades ago, it is arguable the benefits of competition clearly have outweighed the benefits of monopoly in that industry with lower prices, technological innovations, and more choice to consumers from that competitive business environment.
The questions are: Is it time to look closer how efficient and beneficial to Maryland consumers the gas and electric distribution monopoly model is serving the interests of Maryland consumers delivering the lowest cost, the greatest choice, and spurring technological innovation using the yardstick of success how well the free market competition model served telecommunications/ entertainment distribution industry consumers; And ergo, which model best serves residents of Fort Howard ?
FIOS, COMCAST, DISH,MCI,… provide bundled telephone, Internet, and telephone service at historically low cost to the average consumer with literally limitless choice across the board using their own respectively owned distribution infrastructure.
Gone are the days of ripping up the streets. Employing Trenchless Torpedo Technology Baltimore Gas & Electric, or possibly another competitor in the future, is capable of very cost efficiently installing subterranean gas lines with marginal excavation disruptions in record time as demonstrated in the following U-TUBE:
Fort Howard Community Association will have natural gas service on the agenda during the September meeting at the Odd Fellows Lodge Hall located at 9401 North Point Road, Fort Howard, Maryland.
Clearly this is a community issue requiring a comprehensive dialoged.
All stakeholders are most encourage in this and other matters by attending personally our September meeting or by forwarding your thoughts to https://forthoward.org
As always, FREE universal membership.
For more information contact call 410-477-2040, or email [email protected], or leave your comments to forthoward.org
And lastly, Fort Howard Community Associations thanks in advance the Odd Fellows for use of their hall and wish everyone a safe and fun summer.
Kathleen Labuda
Secretary/Treasurer
FHCA
