BGE’s gas regulator installations cause uproar in Baltimore’s historic urban neighborhoods

Residents of some of Baltimore's historic urban neighborhoods are pushing back against a utility upgrade project they say is forcing them to accept obtrusive equipment on their rowhouse facades or risk losing gas service.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. has been upgrading aging natural gas pipes and equipment throughout the Baltimore region for years, digging up streets and sidewalks and replacing in-home meters and other equipment. But as work has moved into urban neighborhoods with centuries-old homes lining highly trafficked streets, residents have expressed concerns about safety and visual clutter.

Some are upset that BGE has begun putting pressure regulators, which control natural gas pressure, outside homes when interior options exist. While indoor regulators with exterior venting have been used in some areas’ upgrades, residents in such areas as Fells Point, Washington Hill, Butchers Hill, Locust Point and Federal Hill have been told they have no choice.

"They are literally forcing people to put them outside on the frontage of their homes," said Kate Simms, president of the Fells Point Residents Association's board.

She called interior regulators a viable option, but BGE no longer lets people have that choice.

Residents worry that exposed piping and regulators in highly trafficked areas will be susceptible to vandalism, hazardous for pedestrians and scooters, and dangerous if accidentally hit by a vehicle.

BGE has been replacing "regulators" that control gas pressure in Fells Point, Washington Hill, Butchers Hill and other dense urban neighborhoods in Baltimore. Residents are angry that BGE has switched from interior regulators and is installing equipment on the front exteriors of brick rowhouses, a change they believe is unsafe, unsightly and unnecessary. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun )

BGE spokesperson Talon J. Sachs said in an email the utility needs to replace aging, low-pressure gas infrastructure with a higher-pressure system to "provide more reliable and resilient service to residents." The upgrade requires gas regulators outside properties to reduce pressure from the service line for safe distribution into buildings, Sachs said.

BGE says failures of indoor regulators, while rare, can pose an increased risk over failures of outdoor regulators, which also offer easier access during emergencies.

The friction between the utility and communities has emerged as Maryland plans to decrease natural gas use in the future.

The Office of People's Counsel, a state agency that represents utility customers, has criticized "massive" infrastructure spending by gas utilities as conflicting with market trends, state climate policy and the interests of customers.

"Everyone knows that gas sales will decline substantially in coming years," People's Counsel David S. Lapp said in announcing a petition to the state Public Service Commission in February. "But gas utilities continue to spend massive amounts on their delivery systems and operate as usual."

BGE has met with several residents’ associations and agreed to pause the infrastructure project in early February after meeting with Fells Point residents, state and city officials, and representatives of the Public Service Commission, which regulates the state's utilities. But the work recently resumed, prompting the Fells Point group to file a complaint with the commission asking that all nonemergency work be put on hold.

Baltimore Councilman Zeke Cohen, whose district includes impacted neighborhoods, contacted a BGE vice president in April saying constituents are "rightly fed up" with an overhaul that's brought degradation of property and public rights of way and an unwillingness to solve problems.

Flowers are placed around a gas regulator. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun )

"BGE has an obligation to be a great partner to our communities," Cohen said in an email to The Baltimore Sun. "So far, they have fallen short."

Neighbors are frustrated by a lack of communication and mixed messaging and feel "steamrolled" by the process, he said. He has asked BGE leadership to help reach a compromise.

"We have answered questions and reiterated the importance of ensuring that these customers receive gas service in the safest way possible, which BGE has determined involves externally sited gas regulators," Sachs said in an email.

BGE did install regulators indoors for upgrades done before the utility's 2021 decision to move to the outdoor equipment, Sachs said.

Sarah DeCamps found out about BGE's new policy when she saw regulators being installed in front of neighbors’ homes in Fells Point. Concerned that the piping would restrict access to her sidewalk cellar door hatch and cut into sidewalk space, she was hoping BGE would grant her an exception to get indoor equipment.

But she came home from work earlier this month to a door hanger instructing her to schedule installation or face losing service altogether. She met Wednesday with a BGE representative who denied her request. With a gas cutoff date looming, she reluctantly agreed to have equipment installed Thursday. It doesn't block door access but rises much higher out of the ground than she’d expected.

"It does seem like an indoor option is definitely viable," she said. "We all want safety first, but ... they’re trading one risk for another," including potential damage from people just walking, biking or riding scooters outside her house.

Chris Madaio, who has owned his East Baltimore rowhouse for nine years, said he got a letter from BGE last fall saying neighborhood gas lines would be replaced. Madaio, who works from home, said he didn't hear anything about regulators until after gas line replacement was underway and BGE contacted him to arrange a time to work at his home.

A gas regulator is pictured outside Chris Madaio's East Baltimore rowhouse. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun )

He questioned the placement of a regulator on the front of his home and was told it was the only way to keep service. BGE installed the regulator next to his marble steps.

"You can't miss it when you walk up to the house," he said. "My biggest concern is just that they never presented anything else as being an option," he said.

Sachs said alternatives to outdoor regulators will be explored in some cases, such as in areas lacking space. The BGE spokesperson added that the utility is aligned with other mid-Atlantic gas utilities in its policies and is following National Transportation Safety Board recommendations, which call for moving existing interior regulators outside when lines, meters or regulators are replaced.

As a result of state legislation known as the Flower Branch Act that took effect in October 2021, gas companies are required to relocate existing gas regulators to the outside at multifamily dwellings. In a 10-year plan approved last June by the PSC, BGE is relocating 7,000 existing indoor regulators at multifamily properties in its service territory.

But community representatives argue the law applies to multifamily homes and not single-family homes. They point out that during testimony on the state law, BGE said some of Baltimore's densely populated areas would not allow for outside meter or regulator installations.

Magdalena Fitzsimmons, board president of Washington Hill Community Association, which represents a neighborhood north of Fells Point, said the utility has yet to explain its reasoning for unilaterally installing regulators outdoors.

"We cannot stand by and allow BGE to continue to ruin the historic character of our neighborhoods by claiming safety issues when there is no data to support that stance," Fitzsimmons said in a letter she sent Friday to Mayor Brandon Scott, members of the City Council and others.

"We’re not in opposition to replacing gas lines. We realize that has to be done," Fitzsimmons said in an interview. "They just started putting these outdoor regulators on people's homes with no explanation why."

Exposed wire is seen on a gas regulator outside Chris Madaio's East Baltimore rowhouse. (Kim Hairston/Baltimore Sun )