What the free backup battery pilot for medically vulnerable customers would do
Baltimore Gas and Electric asked the Maryland Public Service Commission on January 20, 2026 to approve a pilot offering free backup batteries, installed and owned by the utility, to apartment buildings that house medically vulnerable residents, meaning tenants whose health depends on medical equipment that needs power to run. The proposal would reach an estimated 300 of these customers over 2 years. The same batteries would also work as a virtual power plant, a network of batteries the utility can draw on together during periods of high demand, working like a single power plant, while holding enough reserve charge to keep residents medical equipment running during a power outage.
The battery pilot sits inside a larger case, Case No. 9761, where Baltimore Gas and Electric is also seeking approval for a separate, earlier virtual power plant proposal that lets residential customers volunteer their own home batteries and electric vehicles for grid use. That original filing, submitted July 1, 2025, forecast 2,800 electric vehicles that can send stored power back into a home and 3,180 customer owned home batteries, at a total estimated cost of 1,545,955 dollars, projected to cut peak demand by 7.621 megawatts. It does not include the medically vulnerable, utility owned battery component described above, which Baltimore Gas and Electric added later.
This range comes from the original filing Baltimore Gas and Electric submitted in Case No. 9761, read directly, and describes that earlier proposal, not the medically vulnerable battery pilot.
Show the numbers
| Original filing, monthly bill impact | 0.07 to 0.10 dollars a month |
Why the revised proposal arrived exactly when it did
Maryland regulators did not approve the filings Baltimore Gas and Electric submitted on the first try. The Commission denied the original virtual power plant filing, as filed, on October 21, 2025, and ordered the utility to fix the defects the order identified and refile within 90 days. Ninety days after that order falls on January 19, 2026. Vote Solar dates the announcement of the revised proposal, the one that added the medically vulnerable battery pilot, to January 20, 2026, a single day after that deadline. Both dates come from reading the Commission order and the Vote Solar statement directly, not from news coverage of either.
Day counts are calculated by this publication from 3 sourced dates, not stated directly by any source. The Commission denied the original filing on October 21, 2025, source 4. Vote Solar dates the revised proposal, the one adding the medically vulnerable battery pilot, to January 20, 2026, source 3. The Commission set hearings to begin March 4, 2026, source 5.
Show the numbers
| Deadline to refile the pilot proposal | 90 |
| Revised proposal with the battery pilot announced | 91 |
| Hearings on the proposal scheduled to begin | 134 |
Whether Maryland has approved the battery pilot
The Maryland Public Service Commission has not approved the medically vulnerable battery pilot. The most recent Commission order in the case, issued January 27, 2026, states regulators are still considering the revised filings and have not approved any of them, with hearings on the matter scheduled to begin March 4, 2026. No source states a decision date, and no enrollment process for a qualifying building exists yet.
Jake Duncan, Southeast senior regulatory director at Vote Solar, explained what approval would mean for residents who depend on medical equipment.
By strengthening local energy resilience and expanding access to battery storage, communities gain peace of mind and can protect access to life saving medical equipment during power outages.
Jake Duncan, Southeast senior regulatory director at Vote Solar. Source 3.
A separate 2,500,000 dollar bill assistance donation
Solar Power World also reports that Baltimore Gas and Electric partnered with United Way to donate 2,500,000 dollars to its Customer Relief Fund, expanding help with energy bills broadly. This is separate bill assistance money, not funding for the battery pilot, and no other source confirms the donation.
John Frain, a Baltimore Gas and Electric spokesperson, described the wider case in terms of customer benefit, speaking to WBAL NewsRadio about the broader Case No. 9761 filings, which include time of use rate changes alongside the virtual power plant proposals.
BGE's proposed solutions give customers more tools to manage their energy use, save money and support a cleaner, more resilient grid.
John Frain, Baltimore Gas and Electric spokesperson, quoted to WBAL NewsRadio. Source 2.