"Md.'s Veto of Advanced Meter Deployment Stuns Smart Grid Advocates"

"A utility proposal to install smart meters throughout Maryland has been rejected by the state's Public Service Commission, jeopardizing if not ending what had been one of the Obama administration's leading investment commitments to smart grid technologies and consumer energy conservation.

The decision by Maryland's PSC late Monday is a sharp rebuff to Baltimore Gas & Electric Co., the state's largest utility and part of the Constellation Energy Group, in a state where politicians and power companies have feuded for years.

Officials of BG&E expressed shock at the decision by the Public Service Commission. They have sponsored one of the leading pilot programs incentivizing customers to conserve electricity by reducing appliance usage in peak demand periods, according to smart grid advocates."

Peter Behr reports for ClimateWire June 23, 2010.