​BALTIMORE (April 27, 2018) – BGE kicked off its sixth consecutive year of providing free trees to customers today through its Energy Saving Trees Program. In partnership with the Arbor Day Foundation, BGE will distribute 1,000 trees throughout Baltimore City and Baltimore, Carroll and Cecil Counties this spring and this fall.

"We are committed to environmental stewardship and helping our customers to realize long-term energy savings," said Valencia McClure, BGE's vice president of governmental and external affairs and corporate relations. "Everyone benefits from the positive environmental impacts of a healthy tree canopy, and we are proud to be a part of a greener, cleaner future for central Maryland."

Since 2013, BGE customers have received more than 26,000 trees through the company's joint effort with the Arbor Day Foundation. In 2017, BGE donated trees to residents in Howard County, Laurel, Bowie and Annapolis to help maintain their tree canopies.

According to the Arbor Day Foundation, the more than 26,000 trees planted by BGE customers have helped:

• Avoid nearly 55,000 tons of carbon dioxide
• Filter 611 million gallons of storm water
• Save more than 41,000 megawatt hours of electricity
• Save more than 1.8 million natural gas therms.

Trees are made available through the Arbor Day Foundation. To ensure that these trees do not impact the safety and reliability of overhead and underground energy systems and the customers they serve, BGE advises customers to call 811 and have all underground utilities marked before any digging project. BGE also provides these "Right Tree, Right Place" guidelines:

• Do not plant trees on electric transmission or natural gas rights-of-way.
• Do not plant trees near natural gas pipelines (marked by yellow markers), underground electric lines (marked by white or red markers) or their rights-of-way.
• The Right Tree Right Place Guide lists acceptable trees for planting near utility equipment not located on rights-of-way or near pipelines and underground electric lines.
• Please contact BGE with any questions.
• For more information, visit www.BGE.com/TreeCare/RightTree.

For more information on BGE's Energy Saving Trees Program, visit this page.

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BGE, founded in 1816 as the nation's first gas utility and headquartered in Baltimore, is Maryland's largest natural gas and electric utility. The company's approximately 3,200 employees are committed to safe and reliable power delivery to more than 1.25 million electric customers and more than 650,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland, as well as enhanced energy management, conservation, environmental stewardship and community assistance. J.D. Power's 2017 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction Study(SM) ranked BGE highest in customer satisfaction with business electric service in the east among large utilities. The company also has an estimated annual economic impact of $5 billion of output in its service area, supporting more than 9,500 local jobs and producing $923 million in labor income. BGE is a subsidiary of Exelon Corporation (NYSE: EXC), the nation's leading competitive energy provider. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter, YouTube  and Flickr.