The number of disconnection notices delivered to Pepco’s D.C. customers has soared by nearly a third since 2006, but actual disconnections are down as laws kick in that bar shut-offs during extreme heat or cold, new statistics show.
With the terrible economy and electricity rates continuing to rise, more and more Pepco customers are struggling to pay their monthly bills, according to numbers released by the utility to the D.C. Public Service Commission. D.C. residents were threatened with disconnection 235,000 times in 2008, up from 215,342 in 2007 and 180,000 in 2006, a 30 percent increase over two years.
On any given month in 2008, no fewer than 20 percent of Pepco’s 220,000 residential customers were in arrears — meaning their bills were overdue by at least 21 days — or they were carrying an unpaid balance.
The struggles, however, have not translated into a rise in disconnections. Pepco cut off power to nearly 1,100 residents during May and June 2008, down from 2,400 during those same months in 2006. The power company cut off power to 6,628 customers in all of 2008, 5,812 in 2007 and 8,990 in 2006.
The D.C. Council passed emergency laws in 2007 and 2008 barring Pepco from shutting off service when the temperature climbs into the 90s. Another law, in place for two decades, bars disconnections when the temperature falls below 32 degrees.
The impact of those laws is still being debated, but Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh said Thursday that she expects to reintroduce the heat wave measure again this year.
A combination of factors, including D.C.’s statutes, are likely responsible for the downturn in disconnections, said Pepco spokesman Robert Dobkin. The worst thing a struggling customer can do, he said, is ignore the problem.
“As long as they work with us we’ll try hard not to disconnect them,” Dobkin said.
D.C. People’s Counsel Elizabeth Noël, who represents utility customers before the commission, said it was premature to make a link between the District’s heat wave law and a drop in disconnections. The larger issue, she said, is that Pepco’s rates have soared 85 percent since 2005, when electricity generation was deregulated.
“I’m saying that conversation is being had now across all eight wards at every economic level,” Noël said. “They’re saying ‘I’m afraid to open my electric bill.’”
