The D.C. Council took the latest shot at Pepco on Tuesday, with Ward 4 Councilwoman Muriel Bowser introducing a bill that would require the power company to pay hotel room bills for D.C. residents if their electricity is not restored quickly when it’s freezing or blazing hot. Pepco has been privy to a renewed round of criticism for taking nearly six days to get some customers’ electricity back on after a dose of heavy snow brought power lines down last week. Other local power companies had the lights on for their customers within 48 hours. Even before last week’s storm, Maryland officials were already investigating Pepco for what they described as a slow response in previous outages.
Bowser’s bill would require public utility companies in D.C. to pick up the hotel tab for customers when their power is out for more than 24 hours and temperatures either dip below 32 degrees or rise above 95. It is in those conditions, Bowser said Tuesday, that living in a home without electricity can become a health risk. In the cold weather, residents can’t keep in warm, she said. In the extreme heat, residents with breathing problems can suffer.
“Whether it’s a summer storm or a winter storm, the lack of electricity for a sustained period of time leads to potentially dangerous results for our residents,” Bowser said. “Some residents seek alternative shelter, but many don’t because they can’t afford to do so, due to prohibitive costs.”
Bowser’s bill is the second introduced to the council this year that is designed to hold Pepco accountable. Last month, Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh introduced a bill that would require the power company to reach specific benchmarks, with the goal of making it one of the top service providers in the country by 2025. If it doesn’t meet the benchmarks, the city’s public service commission could require Pepco to give customers a rebate.
Across the border in Montgomery County, where thousands of Pepco customers have routinely lost power for days at a time following nasty weather, Councilman Roger Berliner said he agrees with the premise to D.C.’s approach.
“This is a worthy conversation to have,” Berliner said. “In my community, people feel they have to spend $25,000 on a generator to back up Pepco. … Pepco should be required to compensate them for this. I hope our state legislature considers similar proposals.”
