Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott moving quickly on deal for BGE to take over conduit maintenance

A proposed agreement for Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. to maintain the city’s underground conduit system is moving quickly and could be put to Baltimore’s spending board for consideration in the next month, city officials said Wednesday. The details of the agreement, which have yet to be fully released and which officials say are still being negotiated, call for BGE to take over maintenance of the 700-mile terra cotta pipe system that runs beneath the city and contains telephone, electric and fiber-optic cables. In exchange, BGE would no longer pay to rent space in the system. BGE is the largest user to the system, which dates to 1898, and it currently occupies 76% of the conduit.