The D.C. Council member with oversight of utility issues this week urged the D.C. Public Service Commission to investigate a rash of power outages and to perhaps sanction Pepco if it fails to make improvements.
Pepco must be directed to explain the specific causes of its power problems and its strategy for preventing outages in the future, Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh, chairwoman of the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs, wrote in an Aug. 25 letter to utility regulators. The commission should order Pepco to take corrective actions, she said, and “consider sanctions” if it fails to comply.
“I regularly receive complaints from residents within Ward 3 and across the District about persistent power outages,” Cheh wrote to public service commissioners. “The electric power reliability problem extends to all parts of the District, often to a greater extent than in my ward.”
Pepco’s distribution system suffered roughly 200 outages through the first six months of the year. In 2007, the utility system reported 57,533 outage hours — 26 percent caused by trees and 22 percent by “deterioration.”
People’s Counsel Elizabeth Noel, who represents D.C. ratepayers before the commission, has also called for a formal investigation into Pepco’s unplanned outages. Her request came on June 17, three days after a blackout affected much of downtown Washington, including the White House.
“In light of the increased frequency of the outages and Pepco’s seeming inability to explain the causes, [the Office of the People’s Counsel] submits a higher level of regulatory attention is warranted at this time,” Noel wrote in an Aug. 1 letter to the commission.
Pepco has told the commission that it opposes another investigation into service interruptions. But the utility would be “pleased to cooperate” nevertheless, Robert Dobkin, Pepco spokesman, said Friday.
There have been several high-profile power outages this summer, including one that forced the postponement of a D.C. United game and left an entire housing project without lights or air conditioning.
