Politics & Government

Councilmembers To Explore Public Power

Eight County Council members inquired with a county attorney about preliminary steps for switching to public power.

Eight Montgomery County councilmembers appear to be interested in exploring the possibility of forming a public power company.

Feb. 14, council vice president Roger Berliner, council president Valerie Ervin, and councilmembers Phil Andrews, George Leventhal, Nancy Floreen, Marc Elrich, Nancy Navarro and Hans Riemer addressed a letter to county attorney Marc Hansen asking about preliminary legal steps that may be required to switch from Pepco to public power.

The move comes after increasing frustrations with Pepco and extended outages in the wake of the Jan. 26 snowstorm, among others.

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Feb. 7, Pepco spent about their reliability. The council also heard testimony from the American Public Power Association, a trade association for utilities owned by municipalities and communities.

Potentially forming a public power company could mean local control and lower rates, but it would first require the county to purchase infrastructure from Pepco, Ursula Schryver, director of customer programs at American Public Power Association, told the council.

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“We believe it’s incumbent upon our county to explore this option prudently and carefully as other communities across the country have done,” the Feb. 14 letter read. “Our residents have endured the total failure of both Pepco and the regulatory system that is supposed to protect us for far too long.”

When it comes to a potential switch to public power, the letter inquired about any potential changes in state law that would be required; any necessary approvals from the ; legal issues that may arise in taking over power from an investor-owned utility; and the process for determining the value of the electric distribution system.

“There are certain threshold issues to pursuing public power I think we would be well served to have the answers to,” Berliner told Patch. “Most of those are statutory, legal and regulatory…I do think that a number of my colleagues are very interested in understanding this option and you need to understand it before you decide whether you are going to pursue it.”

Rice, the lone councilmember who didn't sign on to the letter, told Patch he didn't think the county should be "spinning its wheels" looking at an option that could be cost-prohibitive. Rather, he said, the issues with Pepco need to be addressed.

A Pepco spokeswoman told Patch they hadn't been forwarded a copy of the letter.

Read the full text of the letter to the right.

This story has been updated to include comments from councilmember Craig Rice.


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