Comptroller Says $250M Utility Refund Belongs to Maryland Customers

State of MD - Maryland Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman wants the state's electric companies to pass a large tax refund on to their customers. The refund is expected to be more than $250 million.

Lierman made the request on Thursday, September 24, 2026, at the Maryland Board of Revenue Estimates meeting. Her comments follow a ruling made by the Supreme Court of Maryland in July.

The case is called Comptroller of Maryland v. The Potomac Edison Company. In it, the court ruled that some of the equipment electric companies use to move and deliver power qualifies for Maryland's sales and use tax exemption.

Because of that ruling, the Office of the Comptroller must now issue refunds to the energy companies. Those refunds are expected to total more than $250 million.

Lierman said she does not agree with the court's decision, but her office will follow it.

"While I respectfully disagree with the Court's interpretation of Maryland's tax law, we will follow the law and issue the refunds required by the Court's decision," said Comptroller Brooke E. Lierman. "This refund will create a windfall for the energy companies in Maryland, more than $250 million in overpayments on taxes and interest. This is ratepayer money. When utilities pay taxes, they recover those taxes through the rates that they charge their customers."

Put simply, the taxes utilities pay are built into the rates customers see on their monthly bills. Lierman believes that means the refund money came from customers in the first place.

"Therefore, this money that is a refund of taxes paid and interest paid on those taxes, belongs to ratepayers," Lierman said.

She asked the companies to credit customers the full amount of the refund. She also wants the companies to report those credits to the Public Service Commission, the state agency that oversees utilities.

"I call on the energy companies to do the right thing here and act quickly to issue credits to all ratepayers in the full amount of the amount of taxes being refunded to each company and provide an accounting for that to the Public Service Commission. This $250 million plus should be in addition to the $32.2 million in overpayments that the energy companies collected in 2025."

It is not yet clear if or when the energy companies will issue any credits to customers. A video of Lierman's full remarks from the Board of Revenue Estimates meeting has been shared by the Comptroller's office.