Tension: BGE says a $156 million increase and a higher guaranteed return are the minimum needed to keep the grid safe, while roughly 290,000 of its customers are already behind on bills and rates have risen at twice the pace of inflation since 2010.
Noise: The easy frames are a corporate villain squeezing families or activists blocking necessary grid investment. Both flatten a rate case that turns on specific technical questions about return on equity, storm-cost recovery, and shutoff protections.
Direct Message: The commission has said the burden of proof sits on BGE, and the numbers that will decide the case are the return on equity, the storm-cost rider, and the FlexPay shutoff terms — not the $8 headline…