Pepco asked the D.C. Public Service Commission Tuesday for permission to raise the price of electricity by nearly 8 percent for its 235,000 District customers, the first increase in more than a decade.
The 7.79 percent increase for power distribution adds up to $50.5 million a year and will raise the average customer bill by roughly $6 a month.
The typical bill for residential customers using 750 kilowatt-hours a month would jump from $76.64 to $82.61.
“Our objective is to provide safe and reliable electric service while keeping operating expenses as low as possible,” said Thomas Graham, president of Pepco Region, in a news release. “The increase we are requesting now is necessary for us to keep up with inflation and technology improvements necessary to continue to provide quality service for our customers.”
The last base-rate increase was approved in 1995.
Elizabeth Noel, who represents District residents before the Public Service Commission, said Pepco has delivered few benefits through deregulation and retail competition to justify such a large increase. Noel promised to use her full authority to “advocate for D.C. consumers.”
“Pepco’s rate request follows six sad, bad years of ‘deregulation,’ ” Noel said. “Pepco is really proving to be the Grinch who stole Christmas.”
Even if the increase is approved by the commission, electricity delivery rates for low-income customers served under Pepco’s Residential Aid Discount program will not change. Pepco claims the hike is needed to maintain the poles, wires and other equipment used to deliver electricity to its 208,000 residential customers and 27,000 commercial clients.
The price of transformers has doubled in three years, the company claimed, while the cost of electric cable soared by 85 percent. The proposed increase is unrelated to the cost of the electricity supply. The new rate would take effect in September 2007 if approved.
