February 16, 2026
Ready OpEd in Baltimore Sun/Carroll County Times – We need energy policy that serves Marylanders
Return To News >The 2026 Maryland General Assembly Session is underway. There’s been a lot of talk early from Governor Moore and the Democratic supermajority in the General Assembly about federal issues, but my biggest concern is how Marylanders are being bludgeoned this winter by crushing electricity bills. I hear it from constituents and see it in my own family’s energy bill. This situation is not an accident – it is the result of years of short-sighted, unscientific policy choices, carefully crafted by the Democratic supermajority in Annapolis to de-emphasize reliable, affordable, and plentiful types of energy sources in favor of intermittent, renewable “green energy” subsidies. These were deliberate choices to value political optics and over wise and practical energy policy. Maryland’s Democratic Party establishment has turned energy from the lifeblood of our prosperity into yet another vehicle to increase the high cost-of-living for working families. It’s past time for a course correction based on affordability, reliability, and common sense.
Let’s start with the EmPOWER Maryland program, a “Sunshine Tax” on every ratepayer’s bill passed during the Hogan administration over his veto and Republican legislative opposition. Originally billed by Democrats in Annapolis as a way to grow renewable energy production and help improve energy efficiency in needy communities, and supposedly bringing down energy prices. That has not worked. Instead, the EmPOWER program has solidified into a permanent surcharge — a hidden tax — on every Maryland household’s monthly utility bill. The state’s own data shows it has had no discernible positive effect on in-state renewable energy production and certainly hasn’t led to lower costs. Ending EmPOWER Maryland would provide around immediate relief on everyone’s energy bill.
Then there are Maryland’s so-called “climate resilience” mandates — environmental edicts built on climate-fatalist ideology rather than scientific cost-benefit analysis. These rules include forcing utilities to meet onerous targets for “climate-proofing” their infrastructure and requiring them to have plans to get our state to “net zero” emissions by 2045. While the state’s emissions make up only the tiniest fraction of global output, Maryland Democrats would have residents shoulder enormous costs to achieve the very virtuous-sounding “net-zero” ideal. The predictable result? It all serves to drive the cost of delivery of electricity higher. This leads to higher prices for consumers, lost jobs, more red tape for current and would-be job creators, and, of course, no measurable effect on even the East Coast climate, much less globally. We must repeal these unscientific mandates immediately and focus instead on innovation, efficiency, reliability, and cost reduction, to stop punishing working families and driving businesses large and small out of Maryland.
So how would Annapolis have us generate our energy? Well, via renewables, of course, but not as a piece – they have viewed solar, wind and other minor sources of energy for years as the only thing we should be focusing on. Look at Annapolis’s obsession with offshore wind projects – big, ugly, industrial efforts that enrage residents, threaten marine life, and provide unreliable power while depending entirely on massive ratepayer subsidies.
Instead of obsessing over renewables as an exclusive solution, Maryland should adopt a reality-based energy strategy, recognizing reliability and reducing cost as top priority and doubling down on proven clean energy technologies like natural gas and nuclear. The misguided push by special interest groups like the Sierra Club and dutiful, unquestioning politicians over the years to retire traditional power plants prematurely at put all our eggs in the solar and wind basket has reduced our state to purchasing 40% of our power from surrounding states at astronomical rates while risking blackouts during periods of peak demand. Worse, if the Brandon Shores, Anne Arundel County power plant goes offline as it is slated to do – we could end up importing nearly 80% of our power.
Our entire Carroll County Delegation, including me, have been fighting against the massive MPRP project that seeks to ruin 70 miles of farmland to run a power line from Pennsylvania to Northern Virginia. We are hopeful for a defeat of this at the Maryland Public Service Commission because the project doesn’t provide any appreciable energy to Maryland ratepayers but if we don’t fix our state’s energy production problem, there’s going to be a lot more power lines statewide in the future.
Maryland doesn’t have to have skyrocketing bills, unreliable power, scarred farmland, or fleeing residents and businesses. With sensible reforms — ending ratepayer subsidization of failed programs and technologies, repealing arbitrary and unscientific mandates, prioritizing reliable and affordable power, and focusing on easing the pain of families and seniors, our state can get back to being a great place for families, job creators and retirees. Let’s make an energy policy that serves the people of Maryland, not punishes them.
Justin Ready
The writer is a State Senator representing District 5 (Carroll & Frederick Counties)