Comments on: “Not About The Money” files: $175 million suit against BGE

By: Pete Smoot

Pete Smoot — Thu, 30 Mar 2006 18:49:12 +0000

Any plaintiff who claims "it's not about the money" should be required to donate the money to charity.

For that matter, I've always wondered why do plaintiffs get to keep the punitive award? They don't deserve it, that's what the damage award is for.

By: IT Guy

IT Guy — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 21:24:03 +0000

BGE’s regulated rates end on July 31st. The power market in Maryland was deregulated in 1999, but the rates were capped by the legislature until this year.

By: markm

markm — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 12:26:08 +0000

Whether or not the maintenance budget is directly approved by the regulators, regulated rates tightly constrain the possible range of maintenance budgets.

By: Fred

Fred — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 11:46:24 +0000

If money for the settlement don’t come from the customers then where does it come from?

By: Ted

Ted — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 09:52:48 +0000

Once upon a time in an earlier century before my days in law school, I was designing spreadsheets and helping put together regulatory filings for an electric company, and I could swear to the best of my recollection that the maintenance budget was a line item to be approved by regulators, but I defer to the unquestionably greater expertise of Mr. Mitten on the subject.

By: Russ Mitten

Russ Mitten — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 09:43:07 +0000

I wanted to bring to your attention a couple of errors in your account of the BGE lawsuit. I have practiced public utility law for almost 30 years and I have appeared before state regulatory commissions in more than 30 states so I can say with some certainty that: 1) a regulated utility’s maintenance budget is not set by state regulators and 2) the cost of damage awards is almost never passed through to customers in rates. The explanation of both these points is too lengthy to recite here, but I can assure you that they are correct.

That said, keep up the good work. Overlawyered is one of my favorite (and oftentimes most depressing) websites.

By: Walter E. Wallis

Walter E. Wallis — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 08:53:16 +0000

As soon as an attorney asserts “It’s not about the money,” the money should be removed from the case.