Baltimore politicians and state watchdogs are turning up the heat on Baltimore Gas & Electric after state engineers flagged what they say looks like a pattern of falsified gas inspection records tied to a former company inspector. The findings have kicked off a stand-alone Public Service Commission review and a push from the Office of People’s Counsel to dig deeper into how BGE oversees its inspectors and contractors. At the center of the storm is a simple question with big stakes for ratepayers: did customers get charged for work that was never properly checked in the field?
What PSC staff found
The Maryland Public Service Commission’s Engineering Division reported in an April 11, 2025, investigation that it found “gaps in BGE’s quality assurance and compliance oversight” and an “acknowledged pattern of falsification of records,” language that immediately raised doubts about whether some pipeline work was ever verified on-site. According to the Engineering Division report, staff said they could not independently confirm the physical integrity of assets where the inspection chain had been compromised and urged regulators to consider an independent audit along with other remedial steps.
OPC asks the PSC to widen the probe
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel has asked the commission, in formal filings, to zoom out beyond the specific projects now under scrutiny and look at whether BGE’s broader gas inspection programs might have been touched by the same problems. In an initial brief, People’s Counsel David Lapp argues that the evidence collected so far “raises significant concerns” about contractor oversight and underscores the need for a more sweeping review of BGE’s gas infrastructure programs, according to a filing from the Office of People’s Counsel.
BGE disputes the scale of the problem
BGE is trying to keep the crisis contained. The utility says the former employee’s job was limited to contractor compliance audits and insists the company fully cooperated with regulators. In a statement reported by FOX45, BGE said it supplied hundreds of responses, “including over 19,000 pages of documents,” and removed the employee after an internal investigation. The company also told regulators that it has excluded the inspector’s salary from the costs it is seeking to recover from customers, even as it maintains that the employee’s actions did not compromise the safety of the gas system.
Paper trail, photos and missed site visits
Public filings and court documents reviewed by local outlets sketch out how the controversy surfaced. Witness statements and human resources testimony included photographs and accounts that the inspector was spending work hours away from assigned audits. Internal staff records cited in those filings describe missed site visits and several days in April 2024 when hours supposedly spent on-site could not be accounted for. Those details helped trigger the PSC’s deeper dive into what was happening in the field and on paper.
City leaders press for transparency
At City Hall, patience is wearing thin. Baltimore elected officials have publicly demanded clearer answers about which pipeline segments and projects may have been touched by falsified inspection reports and whether any of that work was billed to ratepayers. City Council members and the council president have pressed BGE, according to local coverage, for less redacted documents and detailed lists of projects linked to the inspector’s assignments. They say residents, already dealing with rising energy costs, deserve both a safety accounting and a financial one.
What regulators can do next
The commission has pulled the matter into its own dedicated docket to allow more robust fact-finding and has given staff the green light to consider a shareholder-funded independent audit, remediation plans, and potential cost disallowances. In Public Service Commission Order No. 91643, regulators laid out a structured review process and granted the judge overseeing the case authority to recommend audits, corrective actions, and any adjustments to what BGE is allowed to collect from ratepayers once the facts are in.
What to watch
Key questions now hang over the next phase of the case. The PSC must decide whether to order an independent audit, a broader evidentiary hearing, or both, and whether to grant the Office of People’s Counsel’s request to expand the probe to all gas infrastructure programs. BGE continues to say it has cooperated and taken disciplinary action. The Office of People’s Counsel and Baltimore officials counter that the public is entitled to a full, unvarnished accounting. Upcoming commission filings and any independent audit will shape whether ratepayer refunds, additional construction work in the field, or further enforcement measures end up on the table.
