Our Office

The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel (OPC), created in 1924, is the oldest utility consumer advocacy office of its kind in the United States. The People’s Counsel is appointed by the Attorney General, with the advice and consent of the Senate, and acts independently of the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Office of Attorney General. OPC is a State of Maryland agency, that works independently to represent Maryland’s residential consumers of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, private water and certain transportation matters before the PSC, federal regulatory agencies, and the courts. Every day OPC’s staff members address issues affecting the cost, quality of service and adequate supply of these utility services. As such, OPC’s advocacy touches the lives of every resident of Maryland.

OPC functions primarily as a law office, employing a staff of mostly attorneys, and retains expert consultants to provide technical assistance and expert testimony. These consultants are highly qualified accounting, engineering, and economic experts who provide technical assistance, prepare reports and appear as expert witnesses before the PSC and federal agencies. These experts are absolutely critical to OPC’s ability to represent consumers.

Because it is a state agency, funding for OPC is included in the state budget proposed by the Governor and approved by the General Assembly. However, the State’s General Fund is fully reimbursed for OPC’s expenses from revenue collected in the Public Utility Regulation Fund. These revenues are collected from all regulated utility companies and licensed energy suppliers.

OPC celebrates 100 years

When the Maryland General Assembly created the People's Counsel in 1924, only about half of American homes had electricity, few Maryland households had refrigerators, and it would be decades before air conditioners, color TVs, and internet service were commonplace in Marylanders' homes. As the first consumer advocate office in the nation, the Maryland People's Counsel's early work focused as much on monopolies over streetcars and toll bridges as it did electric and gas utilities.

Today, we no longer have streetcars to regulate, competitive markets have replaced regulation for most telecommunications, and OPC's work involves technologies and issues that would have been fodder for science fiction in 1924. Read People's Counsel David S. Lapp's letter to Maryland residents as OPC celebrates 100 years of service.