Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett is not always considered the voice of reason and restraint, but that’s exactly what he was when he dismissed a cockamamie suggestion by County Council Member Roger Berliner, D-Bethesda, that the county take over Pepco. Incredibly, a majority of the energy attorney’s fellow council members agreed to explore the feasibility of a county-owned public power utility, Leggett bluntly shot down the idea: “This is not a viable option,” he told them. Leggett is right, of course, and Montgomery residents should be relieved that at least somebody in Rockville is still tethered to reality. After getting approval from state legislators and regulators (which is far from a given), the cash-strapped county would have to buy all of Pepco’s equipment, poles and transmission lines. Then county officials with no experience running a power company would face the daunting challenge of making the new Mopco better than the old Pepco — with absolutely no guarantee that customers would be any better off for the change.
Although Pepco earned its ranking as the most loathed electric utility in the nation because of its poor reliability record and even worse customer service, there’s ample evidence that strong criticism of the investor-owned utility following its wretched performance during last year’s storms has already forced a dramatic turnaround. After a stern warning by the Maryland Public Service Commission, which is in the process of updating its statewide reliability standards, Pepco stepped up its tree-trimming operations, installed needed infrastructure upgrades, improved its computer mapping to pinpoint outages within a 600-yard radius, and beefed up its call center.
Before Hurricane Irene hit, Pepco executives had already summoned 600 utility workers from other states who remained on standby to help restore power to any of Pepco’s 778,000 customers in Maryland and the District who lost it during the anticipated multiday outages. All of Pepco’s 815 employees were on an all-hands-on-deck alert and were expected to work around the clock to restore power if necessary. The result of all these preparations was impressive, although not surprising: Despite Irene’s 70 mph wind gusts and torrential rain, fewer Pepco customers lost power during the hurricane than their counterparts in the region who were served by other power companies. For Pepco’s long-suffering customers, continuing government oversight — not a government takeover — is the best way to make sure the lights stay on.
