State-Affiliated Partners
State Resources
MCEC works with many different organizations, including government, private companies, public agencies, and nonprofits across the state. These partners provide residents with valuable information, financial help, and connections to other energy-related organizations. These services are often available at no cost to you.
Office of People’s Counsel (OPC)
The Maryland OPC is an independent agency that advocates for residential utility consumers, ensuring services like electricity, gas, telecommunications, and water are reliable, safe, and reasonably priced. OPC also supports Maryland’s environmental and climate goals by promoting sustainable energy policies.
Each year the Office of People’s Counsel creates Community Resource Guides that provide valuable information on how to get help with your utility bills. These guides provide information on your rights as a utility consumer, available funding programs, answers to common utility questions, and more.
Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD)
The Maryland DHCD promotes affordable housing, strengthens communities, and provides opportunities for Maryland residents to thrive. DHCD also plays an important role in energy efficiency. Through the EmPOWER Maryland program, DHCD helps low-income households reduce energy costs by providing energy-saving upgrades, such as weatherization services. These programs have benefited over 53,900 vulnerable families by improving home efficiency, lowering utility bills, and supporting the state’s goals to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Public Service Commission (PSC)
The Maryland PSC is an independent state agency that regulates essential services in Maryland, such as electricity, natural gas, water, telecommunications, and transportation. Their main job is to ensure that the utilities we rely on every day—like electricity to power our homes and gas to heat them—are delivered safely, reliably, and affordably. The PSC protects consumers by:
- Setting fair and transparent rates that companies can charge for these services
- Ensuring public safety by enforcing rules and standards
- Promoting natural resource conservation and encouraging the efficient use of energy
- Handling and investigating consumer complaints to ensure that the public is treated fairly.
Their work ensures that Maryland residents have access to reliable and fairly priced utilities, while also balancing environmental and economic concerns in the process.
Maryland Energy Administration (MEA)
MEA promotes clean, affordable, and reliable energy for all Marylanders. MEA focuses on reducing greenhouse gas emissions and advancing energy solutions that are fair and accessible to everyone. Their role includes helping residents, businesses, and local governments lower energy use through programs that improve efficiency, like replacing traditional light bulbs with energy-saving ones and installing solar panels. They also offer grants and loans to help people invest in energy-efficient technologies and promote clean energy solutions such as offshore wind projects and clean-burning wood stoves.
Office of the Comptroller
The Office of the Comptroller of Maryland plays a crucial role in managing the state’s tax and financial matters. With a Climate Resilience Director, they lead efforts to make Maryland more resilient to environmental challenges while ensuring transparency in how taxpayer dollars are spent.
Department of Human Services (DHS)
The Maryland DHS oversees programs to help low-income households with energy costs through its Office of Home Energy Programs (OHEP). They manage key programs like the Maryland Energy Assistance Program (MEAP) and the Electric Universal Service Program (EUSP), which provide support for electric and gas bills, and offer protection against utility service cutoffs during extreme weather. OHEP also offers weatherization services to improve home energy efficiency at no cost to qualified residents.
Department of Environment (MDE)
MDE was created to protect and preserve the state’s air, water and land resources and safeguard the environmental health of Maryland residents. MDE works to protect the environment from pollution, climate change, and other threats. MDE enforces state and federal environmental laws to protect public health. MDE provides technical assistance to Maryland communities and industry. MDE educates citizens about how they can protect the environment.