Montgomery County is again a party in the state investigation into Pepco’s reliability, County Executive Ike Leggett announced Wednesday in an online chat with county residents.
Maryland’s Public Service Commission is investigating the electric company’s reliability in light of numerous power outages across the county over the past two years.
On June 14, Leggett announced to the County Council that he had withdrawn the county as a party to the probe. He said he would submit a county report about the problems residents and businesses have had with their electric service, but the county would avoid high costs and a large time commitment by not participating more actively.
Leggett’s decision drew criticism from the County Council, with several members saying their constituents would be unhappy with the decision. Citing 25 years of legal experience, Councilman Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda, also disagreed with Leggett’s claims that participation would be costly.
At the end of last week, Montgomery County rejoined the investigation as a party. According to Leggett spokesman Patrick Lacefield, Leggett realized the county could take an active role in the investigation in a more cost-efficient manner than he believed possible.
For example, the Public Service Commission accepted staff members’ testimony, rather than requiring testimony from all of the people who compiled the report the county submitted, Lacefield said.
According to the report, power outages cost Montgomery residents up to $114.6 million and businesses up to $211 million in the course of a year.
