Monday, May 20, 2013
A Montgomery County councilman pitches a plan as Pepco customers sound off.
Last year's derecho storm was the latest to highlight issues with Pepco reliability and communication. Last week, Montgomery County Councilman Roger Berliner proposed a "Utility 2.0" plan to improve electricity service. Patch users had something to say about Pepco getting a rate increase to pay for reliability improvements: Michael Smith said: "Why should Pepco increase it's rates AT ALL to pay for infrastructure? Each year they make over $100 MILLION dollars in pure profit and invest ZERO of it into the community." Arlene K. Polangin said: "Pepco needs to improve service BEFORE it gets a rate increase. Why should customers pay for poor service with a higher bill? The DERECHO = 6 days NO electricity and every little outage = no power in …
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
The Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order on Wednesday directing electricity companies to improve service reliability and resiliency.
Utility companies in Maryland will need to beef up efforts to improve electricity service reliability and resiliency, according to an order issued by the Maryland Public Service commission on Wednesday, Feb. 27. The order (No. 85385) requires utility providers like Pepco to do the following: Pepco has 534,601 electricity customers in Maryland, and 410,679 (77 percent) of them were without power at the peak of electricity outages after the derecho—double the number of outages after Hurricane Irene, according to the commission's order. President Obama even declared that six jurisdictions in Maryland, including Montgomery County, were part of a major disaster area after the derecho, which occurred during a heat wave. On June 9, Montgomery …
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Some say meters are ingenious, others say they're dangerous, as 202 Pepco customers opt out of smart meters.
On June 11, Pepco said 70 customers had opted out of smart meters and by Tuesday, June 26, the number had grown to 202, according to Pepco. The number of Pepco customers in Maryland is 531,000, according to Pepco. "We think the low number of customers who want to opt out indicates the majority of our customers have looked at all the scientific data and found nothing to be alarmed about," Pepco stated in an email to Patch Monday night. More than 190 comments have been posted on Patch's initial article about customers who opted out of smart meters. Below are excerpts from what our readers had to say. Readers' Speak Out on Smart Meter Pros and Cons "I think the smart meters will be a good idea for smart billing. Rates increase during high-…
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
At 6:15 a.m. Pepco’s StormCenter map showed 73 percent of the 20815 ZIP code service area without power.
Update, Jan. 27, 9:45 a.m.: The number of people without power in the 20815 ZIP code is decreasing. In the past five minutes the number has shrunk from 4,713 customers to 4,140. Update, Jan. 27, 6:35 a.m.: Pepco reported more than 120,000 active outages at 6 a.m. “Our crews are facing the same things the people out in the communities are right now,” said Pepco spokesman Bob Hainey. “We’re facing severe weather, treacherous conditions, we’re facing abandoned cars, and the big problem right now is getting from Point A to Point B. But we’re restoring power as safely and as quickly as possible and as the conditions permit.” Update, Jan. 27, 6:18 a.m.: Pepco’s StormCenter outage map showed 7,018 customers without power in the 20815 ZIP code at …
Friday, December 17, 2010
Pepco representatives answered upset residents’ questions and updated them on improvements being made.
Dissatisfied Pepco customers in the Village of Martin's Additions voiced their dissatisfaction for the company Thursday night. Pepco representatives Charles Washington and Kevin McGowan told the group of close to 30 people what the company has done and is continuing to work on as part of Pepco's six-point reliability plan. The plan includes increased tree trimming, improving poorly working or priority feeders, upgrading feeders for load growth, installing a system to identify outages and perform switching automatically, replacing underground cables that were installed in the 1970s and selectively replacing the overhead system with an underground system. The total plan has a span of five years and in Maryland will cost the company more than…
J. Anthony
4:13 pm on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Obviously Michael Smith has not bothered to read Pepco's financial statements. Otherwise he wouldn't make such an uneducated and incorrect statement. more ›