It might not be worthy of an international incident, but the Turkish government is currently locked in a struggle with a local utility powerhouse over, of all things, an electric bill.
“Turkey contacted Pepco well over a year ago, and [Pepco’s] response was, as it still is, ‘Our meters are infallible, our readers are infallible, and you have the responsibility to prove us wrong,’ ” said David Saltzman, the embassy’s local attorney.
The roughly $5,600 dispute between the Turkish Embassy and Pepco is now before a hearing officer with the D.C. Public Service Commission, the District’s utility regulator. The circumstances may seem familiar for the average District resident, with one difference — this fight could one day involve the State Department.
“Just to forgive a bill, we can’t do it,” said Robert Dobkin, Pepco spokesman. “We’re bound by regulation. The Embassy of Turkey, any customer, if they disagree with something, there is recourse.”
The complicated billing disagreement stems from when the embassy was undergoing major reconstruction, starting in June 2004 and continuing through 2005.
Pepco and Turkey are squabbling over the accuracy of the embassy’s meter during that time — an issue that cannot be resolved because the utility replaced and discarded the original device.
Turkey wants a refund for some payments it’s already made, and is fighting an adjusted bill that Pepco based on actual meter readings.Saltzman is seeking to serve as both Turkey’s counsel and its only witness. Pepco responded with a call for immediate dismissal of the case, arguing that a representative from the embassy must be made available for cross-examination.
It’s a rare dust-up that may at some point require federal intervention, those involved say. “Turkey wants to pay the right amount,” Saltzman said. “It is not in the business of trying to get out of bills.”
The commission officer dismissed another embassy complaint over the District’s utility tax, a charge levied on the utility and passed onto the consumer.
Saltzman didn’t fight the dismissal, he said, but “this is definitely something that will be raised with the Attorney General of the District of Columbia.” No foreign government is subject to such taxation under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, Saltzman said.
