Only a few year ago, Mayor Brandon Scott backed a deal that waived BGE’s annual conduit access fees in exchange for $134 million in upgrades to Baltimore’s 700-mile underground conduit system, plus $1.5 million a year in maintenance payments.

Now, Mayor Scott is looking to replace the deal with BGE with a new fee structure that would charge utilities $4.05 per linear foot to use the conduit beginning this January. City officials say the change would provide a long-term funding source to maintain and modernize the aging network.