On the first day of December, Baltimore Gas & Electric sponsored the city’s elaborate tree-lighting ceremony, featuring local celebrities, fireworks and thousands of lights strung through the stately Mt. Vernon neighborhood.But as revelers looked on uptown, Baltimore’s 1199ers and their community allies packed a hearing room downtown where state regulators were taking testimony about the destructive merger plans of BGE’s parent company, Constellation Energy.Dozens of community members spoke out against the merger, including members of Good Jobs Better Baltimore, the Sierra Club, and Occupy Baltimore. A solid majority of speakers urged Maryland’s Public Service Commission (PSC) to block the proposed merger between Constellation and Chicago-based Exelon Corporation.Monica Jones, an 1199 member, spoke during the public hearing about BGE/Constellation’s sky-high utility rates. “Every time I open my BGE bill, I’m scared,” Jones said. “We already pay some of the highest utility bills in the country and I’m afraid that this merger will make them even higher.”The deal would provide no long-term protection against rate hikes for BGE customers, who have seen their electricity rates rise 104 percent in the last decade. Exelon President Christopher Crane has also said the most “impactful” job cuts resulting from the deal would occur in Baltimore.While Jones and other activists spoke out against the merger, Good Jobs Better Baltimore members created a light show of their own. At the back of the packed hearing room, the group stretched a “power line” of paper light bulbs with messages from attendees with “bright ideas” for BGE like “Green Job Creation,” “Lower Rates,” and “Protect Local Jobs.”If the merger goes through, there will be one very serious blackout in Baltimore: the city would lose its last Fortune 500 Corporation, since the companies’ combined headquarters would move to Chicago.Merger opponents have also objected to a potential post-merger windfall for Constellation CEO Mayo Shattuck, who could walk away from the company with $20.5 million. Last year alone, Shattuck received $15.7 million in compensation, even though Constellation lost nearly $1 billion last year.- See more at: http://www.1199seiu.org/a_tale_of_two_cities_baltimore_utility_celebrates_holiday_1199ers_act_to_block_its_destructive_plans#sthash.HJhe0cTI.dpuf