By FERN SHEN
The problem is the way Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is proposing to pay for utility consumer rate relief: by diverting $70 million from programs intended to help needy families do energy audits and weatherize their homes. Why, environmentalists ask, should the wealthy be the only ones who get to address the problem of sky-high electric bills with long-term solutions?

One of the critics of O’Malley’s plan found bitter irony in the story about energy audits that lead yesterday’s Baltimore Sun. It featured a physician-lawyer couple in a 3,600 square foot suburban house who were upset about their $1,151 electric bill and got themselves a high-tech energy audit – at a cost of $450. Fixing the leaks and drafts – according to the specialist wielding a fancy infrared camera — will cost thousands but the Owings Mills couple vowed to make the investment.
“Poor people want to make those same investments in energy efficiency in their homes. They get it,” said Johanna Neumann, state director of the Maryland Public Interest Research Group.
“It’s not just the people in Gucci clothes or Ugg boots who want to weatherize and lower their bills,” said Neumann, one of the most vocal critics of the proposal in O’Malley’s budget to redistribute the funds.

How to use cap-and-trade revenue
The dispute is over revenue generated by Maryland’s participation in RGGI, a cap-and-trade compact among 10 Northeastern states meant to reducing the amount of carbon dioxide emissions that power plants are permitted to produce. (RGGI stands for Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative and Maryland is expected to reap millions from it.)
O’Malley has asked the legislature to divert a portion of that revenue, an estimated $70 million over two years, toward electricity rate relief. Lawmakers had specified that the money be used for energy efficiency and conservation programs.

Does it have to be either/or?
Neumann acknowledged that people are struggling to pay this year’s unusually high gas and electric bills, a problem that has provoked an outcry from ratepayers and an investigation by the Public Service Commission. But she said short term relief should not come at the expense of long-term conservation solutions, outlined in the RGGI compact.
“Is there really no other source of funds to help people with their bills? I just don’t believe it,” said Neumann, who is watching the proposal as it moves through legislative committees in Annapolis.
We will update this story if the governor’s office or the Maryland Energy Administration return calls for comment.