Legal advice to BGE - Assignment Example

In its bid to raise capital in 1818, the company was enlisted in the public stock market. The company transformed into a corporation in 1906, and its mission is to achieve customer satisfaction by providing high quality energy services and products. From 1960 to 1980, the company experienced numerous growths and the climax was in 1967 when it built the first nuclear generating plant in Baltimore. In 1983, due to losses in its business operations, BGE sought diversification of its business initiatives but was rejected by the Maryland council since local laws did not allow such ventures (Dubinsky and Morgenstern, 1982).

In 1989, the company’s nuclear power plant was shut down and it faced numerous fines deteriorating its financial capabilities. In 1992, with the passing of the Energy Federal Act, which allowed competition in the wholesale power market by retention of retail business, the company was able to reinvent itself (Williams, 1984). It responded by looking for a strategic partner for the purposes of improving its profits. In 1995, the company formed a joint venture with Potomac Electric Power Company, and they engaged in reduction of staff and job overlapping.

This was aimed at saving approximately a billion dollars. The merger was called off in December 1997 due to disagreements on cost sharing and regulatory laws of the District of Columbia (Moscardini & Betacourt, 1990). In 1998, the company made organizational changes and split its management into three distinct parts, namely unregulated subsidiaries department, utility operations department and power generation department. Currently, BGE has undertaken to improve the productivity of its services by rolling out the smart grid initiative.

The smart grid initiative will allow clients to regulate their energy use with the money they are willing to spend and starting this year, the company will install two million smart meters and its devices in Maryland. After the installation, the company plans to establish an online device that will enable customers to view their energy usage patterns and costs. The tool will give tips on effective consumption of energy, and outline a comparison on the neighbor’s energy usage pattern. This is called the green button technology.

Clients will be able to view and download information of a similar manner concerning customers of other energy companies (Carvallo & Cooper, 2011). In rolling out this service, laws regulating the administration of the initiative must be put into consideration. At the federal level, the administrative law relevant to this initiative is the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. In initiating the smart grid technique, BGE will face numerous costs, and ways and measures of reducing risks associated with implementation of this act needs to be looked at.

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act is an example of an administrative law that the company can invoke to minimize the risks associated with the initiative (Keyhani, 2011). The law allows compensation by the federal government to American companies suffering losses due to initiating policies meant to benefit its citizens. In Maryland, the most relevant aspects of administrative laws is the EmPOWER Maryland Efficiency Energy Act which regulates energy consumption and peak demands. It is the duty of energy companies in Maryland