SB0270 • 2026

Public Service Commission - Full Costs and Benefits Analysis of Sources of Electricity Generation

Education Energy

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Senators Carozza , Brooks , Gallion , Harris , Hershey , Hester , Simonaire , Watson , and West
Last action: 2026-03-25
Official status: In the House - Hearing 4/02 at 1:00 p.m.
Effective date: 2026-10-01

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

Public Service Commission - Full Costs and Benefits Analysis of Sources of Electricity Generation

Requiring the Public Service Commission to conduct an analysis of the full costs and benefits of sources of electricity generation in the State; and requiring the Commission to report its findings and recommendations to the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the Environment and the House Environment and Transportation Committee by December 1, 2027.

What This Bill Does

Requiring the Public Service Commission to conduct an analysis of the full costs and benefits of sources of electricity generation in the State; and requiring the Commission to report its findings and recommendations to the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the Environment and the House Environment and Transportation Committee by December 1, 2027.

Limits and Unknowns

This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

903025/1

None

Favorable with Amendments { 903025/1 Adopted

Plain English: AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 270 (First Reading File Bill) On page 1, in line 9, after “(a)” insert “In this section, “Levelized Full System Cost of Electricity” means a formula that: (1) calculates the costs of serving the entire State electricity market using only one energy source plus energy storage; and (2) uses the following inputs: (i) capital costs of the generating facility; (ii) distribution system costs; (iii) maintenance and operating costs; (iv) the cost of capital; (v) capacity factors; (vi) ramping up and down times; and (vii) the annual electricity demand by hour in the target market.

AMENDMENT TO SENATE BILL 270 (First Reading File Bill) On page 1, in line 9, after “(a)” insert “In this section, “Levelized Full System Cost of Electricity” means a formula that: (1) calculates the costs of serving the entire State electricity market using only one energy source plus energy storage; and (2) uses the following inputs: (i) capital costs of the generating facility; (ii) distribution system costs; (iii) maintenance and operating costs; (iv) the cost of capital; (v) capacity factors; (vi) ramping up and down times; and (vii) the annual electricity demand by hour in the target market.
(b)”; in line 11, strike “(b)” and substitute “(c)”; in line 15, strike “and”; after line 16, insert: “(iv) solar energy at its current capacity; and SB0270/903025/1 BY: Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee SB0270/903025/01 Education, Energy, and the Environment Committee Amendments to SB 270 Page 2 of 2 (v) energy storage at its current capacity;”; and in line 18, after “energy” insert “and solar energy”.
On page 2, in line 2, strike the second “and”; in line 3, after “storage;” insert “and”; after line 3, insert: “(iv) only solar energy and energy storage;”; in line 4, strike “and”; in line 5, after the first “energy” insert “ , and solar energy”; and in line 8, strike “(c)” and substitute “(d)”.

Bill History

2026-03-25 House
Hearing 4/02 at 1:00 p.m.
2026-03-18 Senate
Favorable with Amendments Report by Education, Energy, and the Environment
2026-03-07 House
Referred Environment and Transportation
2026-03-03 Senate
Third Reading Passed (45-0)
2026-03-02 Senate
Favorable with Amendments { 903025/1 Adopted
2026-03-02 Senate
Second Reading Passed with Amendments
2026-02-09 Senate
Hearing 2/19 at 1:00 p.m.
2026-01-19 Senate
First Reading Education, Energy, and the Environment
Maryland General Assembly
Text - First - Public Service Commission - Full Costs and Benefits Analysis of Sources of Electricity Generation
Maryland General Assembly
Vote - Senate - Committee - Education, Energy, and the Environment
Maryland General Assembly
Text - Third - Public Service Commission - Full Costs and Benefits Analysis of Sources of Electricity Generation

Official Summary Text

Requiring the Public Service Commission to conduct an analysis of the full costs and benefits of sources of electricity generation in the State; and requiring the Commission to report its findings and recommendations to the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the Environment and the House Environment and Transportation Committee by December 1, 2027.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

EXPLANATION: CAPITALS INDICATE MATTER ADDED TO EXISTING LAW.
[Brackets] indicate matter deleted from existing law.
Underlining indicates amendments to bill.
Strike out indicates matter stricken from the bill by amendment or deleted from the law by
amendment.
*sb0270*

SENATE BILL 270
C5, M5 6lr2333
SB 675/25 – EEE CF HB 674
By: Senators Carozza, Brooks, Gallion, Harris, Hershey, Hester, Simonaire,
Watson, and West
Introduced and read first time: January 19, 2026
Assigned to: Education, Energy, and the Environment
Committee Report: Favorable with amendments
Senate action: Adopted
Read second time: March 2, 2026

CHAPTER ______

AN ACT concerning 1

Public Service Commission – Full Costs and Benefits Analysis of Sources of 2
Electricity Generation 3

FOR the purpose of requiring the Public Service Commission to conduct an analysis of the 4
full costs and benefits of sources of electricity generation in the State; and generally 5
relating to a study on electricity generation. 6

SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, 7
That: 8

(a) In this section, “Levelized Full System Cost of Electricity” means a formula 9
that: 10

(1) calculates the costs of serving the entire State electricity market using 11
only one energy source plus energy storage; and 12

(2) uses the following inputs: 13

(i) capital costs of the generating facility; 14

(ii) distribution system costs; 15

(iii) maintenance and operating costs; 16

2 SENATE BILL 270

(iv) the cost of capital; 1

(v) capacity factors; 2

(vi) ramping up and down times; and 3

(vii) the annual electricity demand by hour in the target market. 4

(b) The Public Service Commission shall conduct a full costs and benefits analysis 5
of sources of electricity generation in the State. 6

(b) (c) The analysis shall: 7

(1) identify the costs of electricity to ratepayers assuming that the State 8
electricity market is served by the following generation mixes: 9

(i) natural gas energy at its current capacity; 10

(ii) nuclear energy at its current capacity; and 11

(iii) 8,500 megawatts of offshore wind energy capacity; 12

(iv) solar energy at its current capacity; and 13

(v) energy storage at its current capacity; 14

(2) include the additional costs of electricity generation necessary to offset 15
reliability issues and the intermittency of offshore wind energy and solar energy; 16

(3) use the Levelized Full System Cost of Electricity model to analyze the 17
costs of meeting the State’s electricity needs from: 18

(i) only natural gas energy and energy storage; 19

(ii) only nuclear energy and energy storage; and 20

(iii) only offshore wind energy and energy storage; and 21

(iv) only solar energy and energy storage; 22

(4) identify the costs for natural gas energy, nuclear energy, and offshore 23
wind energy , and solar energy if energy storage is available to offset reliability and 24
intermittency issues; and 25

(5) include recommended policy changes to support the development of the 26
energy sources with the lowest costs and greatest benefits to the ratepayers of the State. 27

SENATE BILL 270 3

(c) (d) On or before December 1, 2027, the Public Service Commission shall report its 1
findings and recommendations to the Senate Committee on Education, Energy, and the 2
Environment and the House Environment and Transportation Committee, in accordance 3
with § 2–1257 of the State Government Article. 4

SECTION 2. AND BE IT FURT HER ENACTED, That this Act shall take effect 5
October 1, 2026. 6

Approved:
________________________________________________________________________________
Governor.
________________________________________________________________________________
President of the Senate.
________________________________________________________________________________
Speaker of the House of Delegates.