Gov. Wes Moore signed an executive order Friday aimed at retooling Maryland’s energy strategy as utility bills soar and a booming data center industry strains the power grid.

The directive gives Moore’s new energy director, appointed Thursday, her marching orders ahead of a legislative session in which energy costs and demands are expected to again dominate policy debates.

The lengthy order comes days after lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to override Moore’s vetoes on a trio of climate and energy bills, two of which — a study of data center impacts for the state and a measure to establish a new energy planning office — seem to partly overlap with the governor’s directive.

Joined by state officials and clean energy advocates, Moore blasted the mid-Atlantic’s grid operator Friday for creating the state’s energy challenges, and criticized President Donald Trump’s attacks on clean energy that could help mitigate the problem.

Still, Moore acknowledged that these actions won’t have an immediate impact on ratepayers’ bills.

“There is no governor who is forcing energy prices to spike,” he said. “No governor can lower prices tomorrow.”

New strategies for controversial power lines and power plants

From wind turbines off the coast of Ocean City to transmission lines cutting across rural counties, new energy projects have become lightning rods in Maryland, even as growing electrification and the data center boom have added new pressure to the grid.

But as developments stall, Maryland’s aging fossil fuel plants rapidly retire, and residents cry out, Moore argued Friday that the state can strike a balance between generating more power and respecting the concerns of impacted communities. His order attempts to help the state avoid these kinds of clashes.

The directive tasks the Maryland Energy Administration, an energy policy- and grant-making arm, with urging utility regulators to more closely scrutinize transmission upgrade projects. It would push the Public Service Commission, whose members the governor appoints, to require utility and transmission line owners to consider capacity upgrades before approving new power line construction.

State transportation officials also would have to identify state-owned rights-of-way, such as highway medians, as locations for new transmission lines or batteries — an effort to sidestep firestorms like the one over a proposed transmission line to deliver electricity through Maryland to northern Virginia’s “data center alley.”

Moore also tasked his administration with evaluating the state’s own landholdings as sites for new generation while prioritizing old industrial areas over green space. Officials must publish an inventory of vetted sites by the end of 2027, and the state commerce department is charged with assembling incentives to lure projects.

Moore’s order, though, comes just days after Maryland lawmakers reapproved a bill to establish a new office tasked with studying the state’s energy challenges and coming up with strategies.

Asked about the differences between the legislative action and his Friday order, Moore said he would work with the General Assembly on energy issues but doubled down on his veto of the planning office.

“I did not feel that those bills met the moment,” the governor said. “I also know that I’m not afraid to use the powers vested in me as the governor to be able to use executive authority to move fast.”

Moore blames grid operator and Trump

Moore had strong words Friday for PJM Interconnection, the nonprofit entity that operates the electric grid for 12 states, including Maryland, and Washington, D.C. The Democrat criticized decision-making by the PJM board, which he noted consists largely of “big business executives,” and argued that they have shoved billions in new costs onto ratepayers.

“This is not a Maryland issue,” Moore said. “The system’s incentives are upside down. Twentieth-century utility policy does not work in the 21st century.”

In a statement, PJM spokesperson Jeffrey Shields took issue with Moore’s criticisms, pointing to the grid operator’s progress in getting new generation on the system. At the same time, Shields argued that Maryland’s reliance on out-of-state energy means the state “leans heavily on the rest of the PJM system.”

Energy demand is growing across the country due to an influx of data centers, he said, and PJM’s board is preparing a decision on how to handle this growing demand.

Capital infrastructure projects by utilities, like the Exelon-owned Baltimore Gas and Electric, are partly responsible for expensive electric bills.

Ratepayer advocates have long called these projects unnecessarily expensive and “wasteful spending” in favor of profits. BGE representatives note every project is reviewed and approved by the Public Service Commission, as are their profits.

Moore said he wants his administration to “take a hard look at whether our system is set up to prioritize low-cost solutions over expensive projects.”

The order directs the Maryland Energy Administration to work with the Public Service Commission to hold utility companies accountable for their delivery rate increases from these projects. Moving forward, the state will “reward” utility companies for opting for faster, lower-cost alternatives that don’t require replacing transmission lines.

The PSC will also examine budget billing programs that utilities like to push on ratepayers as one solution to even out monthly costs. And the energy agency, along with the Department of Human Services, will evaluate existing energy assistance programs designed to prevent overdue bills and service disconnections.

New energy director’s marching orders

Moore’s order came a day after he announced a new director for the Maryland Energy Administration; the agency’s former head retired in November.

Kelly Speakes-Backman, a PSC commissioner during former Gov. Martin O’Malley’s administration, joins the state agency after working as a multinational energy company lobbyist and serving in a federal renewable energy office under President Joe Biden.

The governor established a new sub-Cabinet Friday to assess energy challenges, as well as an advisory council of utility, labor and ratepayer advocates tasked with developing a report on energy affordability and reliability by Jan. 16, 2026.

Moore on Friday touted his record on renewable energy sources like wind and solar while criticizing the Trump administration’s attacks on clean power and offshore wind.

“It’s amazing watching how this Trump-Vance administration seems absolutely hell-bent on blocking clean energy projects,” Moore said, “when it’s actually the clean energy projects that have the greatest potential, doing it cheaply and doing it quickly.”

While the governor blamed the state’s energy woes on Trump and grid operators, Maryland Republicans said Democratic leaders like Moore put Maryland in this position by courting wind and solar while penalizing fossil fuels like natural gas.

“PJM is responsible for keeping the grid reliable, but they are forced to operate within the shortsighted mandates imposed by states like Maryland,” state Senate Minority Leader Steve Hershey said in a statement. “For Governor Moore to blame PJM after his own party pushed the closure of our reliable fossil-fuel plants is misguided.”