Pepco’s Maryland customers will see their bills rise on the heels of storm-caused power outages that left thousands of residents in the dark for days.
The Maryland Public Service Commission approved a rate increase for the power company, effective July 29. The extra money will mean an average increase of about $1 a month for residential customers and will raise $7.7 million for Pepco to use to upgrade its electricity system.
That raise is much smaller than what the power company requested. Pepco asked to raise $40 million more; the PSC scaled back the request to a 2.3 percent increase in its distribution charge for all customers.
Still, even a small raise doesn’t sit well with some Pepco customers — especially after the massive power outages that prompted state and county officials to call for investigations into the electricity company’s service.
“We already pay enough for subpar service,” said Bobby Bloch, owner of Bobby’s Crabcakes in Rockville. His business lost power for three days in the July outages and lost it again a few days later.
“Rates are already outrageous. They’re already far more than you’d expect to have to pay to turn the lights on,” he said. “You expect to have continual service, and when your power goes out, it’s a major disruption of business.”
Bloch estimates he lost $10,000 in the July outages.
He’s not alone in his opinion of Pepco’s current electric bills.
“Increase in rates is never fine with me,” said Deborah Simon, owner of Waygoose Crafts in Rockville. “We have had such a huge increase in our utility rates in the last year. My power bills have almost doubled.”
Simon said she pays about $1,000 a month on electricity for her street-level space in Rockville Town Center, even though she has dimmers on all the light bulbs.
Montgomery County Councilman Roger Berliner, who criticized Pepco during the outages, said he was pleased the state agency reduced Pepco’s request.
“The commission tried to protect consumers. That clearly was their goal. Any rate increase is difficult at this time, certainly with the unhappiness with the quality of service,” he said.
Pepco spokesman Clay Anderson said the increase would pay for upgrades to transformers, wires and substations.
“We do understand that the outages this summer have been very, very difficult for our customers all across the Pepco region. We are continuing to strive through our operating expenses to maintain and enhance the reliability,” he said. “We ask our customers to be patient.”
