Petition of the Off. of People's Counsel

Summary

The Supreme Court of Maryland held that a court reviewing the Commission’s interpretation of its own prior merger order must apply an arbitrary or capricious standard because the interpretation involved the Commission’s technical expertise and discretionary authority. Applying that deferential standard, the Court upheld the Commission’s determination that Washington Gas satisfied the merger-order requirement for annual merger-related savings without using the pre-merger cost baseline required by the Office of People’s Counsel’s proposed interpretation. The Court affirmed the Appellate Court’s judgment.