<p>Gas rates will rise to unsustainable levels as Maryland meets climate goals, a new OPC report finds.</p> <p>Maryland’s gas utility customers should prepare for gas utility rates to spiral upward, doubling or tripling 2021 levels by 2035, and, by 2050, potentially reaching levels more than 10 times higher, according to a study released today by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel.</p> <p>Prepared by Synapse Energy Economics, the report, Climate Policy for Maryland’s Gas Utilities: Financial Implications, evaluates what decarbonization means for the gas utilities as residential buildings gradually transition off natural gas, with almost all residential customers heating their homes in 2050 solely with electricity.</p> <p>Even without major climate policy initiatives, gas home heating systems have been gradually losing market share to electric heating systems since 2010, the report shows. But meeting the State’s climate goals requires eliminating most use of natural gas in Maryland’s buildings by electrifying household appliances and heating and cooling systems.</p> <p>While gas utilities do not directly profit from the sale of gas itself, they recover most of their spending on the distribution system through rates based on gas use. Less use of gas means rates must rise to capture the revenues needed to pay for the infrastructure spending from fewer customers, a news release detailed.</p>