As Maryland leaders prepare to drill into a regional energy crunch and soaring utility costs this legislative session, Gov. Wes Moore on Tuesday unveiled his own response to these problems.

Moore announced a bill, set for introduction before the General Assembly Tuesday, to provide new rebates to Maryland ratepayers, inject funding into renewable energy development and to reform certain state utility laws to protect consumer pocketbooks.

The bill, which has yet to be released publicly, is expected to compete this session with a host of proposals from Maryland lawmakers, advocates and power companies hoping to steer a response to mounting energy concerns.

Much of the proposal builds off of an executive order, signed by Moore late last year, that outlined new energy strategies amid booming data center demand and attempted to put guardrails on costly utility build-outs.

Key to financing parts of the governor’s energy bill would be an allocation of $200 million from the state’s dedicated fund for clean energy projects, known as the Strategic Energy Investment Fund. That’s on top of Moore’s recommendation earlier this month to raid that same fund of $292 million to help plug a hole in the state budget — a move that drew swift criticism from climate and environmental advocates.

Among the highlights outlined by Moore’s office in a news release Tuesday, the bill would:

• Provide $100 million in rebates for Maryland utility customers, an addition to a rebate double that size provided by state leaders last year, which amounted to customer discounts between $30 and $67.
• Make $70 million available in “gap financing” to spur new energy generation, primarily solar and battery storage.
• Require utilities to prioritize upgrades to existing transmission lines before building new ones, and allocate $10 million for transportation officials to identify highway right-of-ways for any new power line and storage development — a response to intense backlash over new energy projects around the state.
• Eliminate a loophole that allows Maryland utilities to profit from their participation in PJM Interconnection, the regional transmission organization.

That last proposal would save Maryland ratepayers around $20 million per year, according to Emily Scarr, a senior advisor for Maryland Public Interest Research Group, who endorsed Moore’s bill in a joint news release. Under current law, utilities aren’t required to join the regional grid and can can charge ratepayers a fee for the choice to join — an incentive the governor’s office argues is antiquated because all Maryland utilities are now PJM members.

Senate President Bill Ferguson said he’s still reviewing the details but raised immediate questions about allocating significant sums of state money for a host of relatively small programs.

“We know that we need to generate more energy, and having lots of little tiny programs that are all over the map may not be the best way to approach it,” the Baltimore Democrat said.

Ferguson added that rebates don’t fix the region’s underlying energy challenges, but he said he expects Senate lawmakers to pursue energy discounts of their own this session.

Republicans offered a harsher assessment of the governor’s plan.

“Marylanders are in the middle of an energy crisis, and this plan offers neither short-term relief nor a long-term solution,” Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey, who represents the Eastern Shore, said in a statement. “Instead of a balanced, all-of-the-above energy strategy, Marylanders are getting more mandates, more transmission spending, and more dependence on out-of-state energy.”

The proposal drew approval from top climate and ratepayer advocates in a joint news release alongside Moore, who emphasized affordability for Marylanders.

“Energy policy is about more than megawatts and transmission corridors — it is about whether Maryland families can afford to live in their homes," the governor said.

Notably, Moore’s plan seems to leave unaddressed one of the most hotly anticipated energy battles of the legislative session.

Exelon, the Chicago-based company that owns three major Maryland utilities, has appealed to Maryland leaders to roll back decades of regulatory policy to allow it to build new power generation, a step it argues would help address growing demands on the regional grid.

Exelon has yet to find a lawmaker to introduce a bill on its behalf.

A spokesperson for Exelon and its subsidiaries said the companies are reviewing Moore’s proposal.

Bria Overs contributed reporting.