 People across Maryland are rising up against one of our investor-owned utility companies, Baltimore Gas and Electric. BGE. BGE. BGE. Baltimore Gas and Electric wants to raise the amount that you pay. BGE's proposed greenhouse will leave us stuck paying higher bills for decades to come. BGE is proposing a $602 million dollar rate increase over the next three years. They want us to pay for the investment while they're going to profit off of it and we're going to pay for it. It makes no sense. This rate increase would include $1.8 billion in new fossil gas infrastructure, would lead to massive rate hikes and would lock in more fossil fuels. We have people that are retiring. We have people that don't fix incomes. We have people that don't know income. If the bills are already extremely high as is and you're going to raise these bills every three years by an absorbent price, how are we going to pay these bills? You're going to have people without lights and gas and they're going to be going to do it. If my bills are higher than they are now, I'm pointing to not giving to pay them. I'm at the age where I should be able to be tired before worrying about how low my gas will be. But rate payers are fighting back. Dozens of people have already testified against BGE's plan. I would like to express my opposition to BGE's multi-year rate plan. I was one of the initial people to raise questions and join communities together with concerns over operation pipeline. Since February of this year, we have spent hundreds of hours doing research, attending meetings and collaborating with residents throughout Baltimore City. Why is BGE investing billions of dollars in infrastructure for resource we are actively phasing out? Some residents have even been arrested trying to stop BGE from forcing new gas regulators onto their homes. The decision to forcibly arrest us by using zip-tie handcuffs and aggressively they pushed me taking us in a police van to Baltimore Central Booking was an example of the influence and the extreme abuse of power that the utility company felt they had. BGE is a predatory company. This is one of the most sickening scenes I have seen in Baltimore. BGE ought to be embarrassed and ashamed of itself. BGE had enough political muscle that could snap its fingers, get an extended permit and under a platoon of police officers and a police force that has depleted to come down and arrest three women and cuff them for what exactly? For trying to stop BGE from turning an old man's gas. Economic justice advocates are sounding the alarm about the impacts of rising BGE bills on working families across Maryland. BGE has proposed to raise rates over multiple years that importance to the office of people's counsel would increase our bills by $810. That's almost 60 percent for gas customers. Raise your hand if your paycheck went up by 60 percent last year. I didn't think so. Community members are calling out BGE for putting its profits over people and the planet. There is a massive assumption by the general public that whatever equipment BGE is installing on their homes is safe, and that's just not true. The residents of Baltimore City are the collateral damage in BGE's quest for shareholder profitability placed above their required mission as a public utility to provide equitable and safe service. Throughout June and July, power in my neighborhood went out close to 10 times. My name is outages lasted for several hours. This was especially disruptive to me because I have a health condition that is exacerbated by heat. So these outages were particularly difficult. We need to move towards electrification. BGE needs to put customers first and our planet first and not engage in gouging customers and endangering our existence. We need to emphasize the E, the electricity, and greatly diminish the G, the gas. Maryland's Public Service Commission recently ordered BGE to stop shutting off people's gas if they refuse new external regulators. A win today for Baltimore residents, a judge granting a temporary restraining order in a class action lawsuit. Now the PSC needs to continue to listen to ratepayers and stop BGE's massive rate hikes. Think about the PSC getting letters from every single person in this room. It's a lot of power and they don't know what they're hearing from that. They hear a lot from the big lobbyist. They hear a lot from the company. They don't always hear from everyday folks. BGE can be beat when we organize when we stand up against large corporate power. We can win. Are you ready to fight? Join the fight today. Sign this petition and share this video.