Tuesday, May 14, 2013
Montgomery County Council Member Roger Berliner asked the Maryland Public Service Commission to require that substantial changes be made to electricity services in the state.
Is better electricity service in the future for Montgomery County? Montgomery County Council Member Roger Berliner—chair of the council's Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee—is pushing to make that happen. On Tuesday, Berliner filed a formal pleading asking the Maryland Public Service Commission to implement the "Utility 2.0" pilot program developed by the Energy Future Coalition, which was tasked by Governor Martin O'Malley's Grid Resiliency Task Force to come up with recommendations for improving electricity service in Maryland. The Utility 2.0 pilot program is "a system truly worthy of the 21st century—cleaner, more reliable, efficient, technologically advanced and consumer-driven. Montgomery County …
Thursday, February 28, 2013
The Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order on Wednesday directing electricity companies to improve service reliability and resiliency.
Bethesda's congressional representative, Rep. Christopher Van Hollen, praised the Maryland Public Service Commission for its order, issued Wednesday, requiring the state's utility companies, such as Pepco, to improve the reliability and resiliency of electric service. "I commend the Maryland Public Service Commission for continuing to hold utilities accountable for their restoration efforts as a result of last summer’s derecho," he said in a statement. The commission, "using valuable input collected from affected residents, will order Pepco and other Maryland utilities to provide short-term and long-term plans that address sub-standard infrastructure, slow restoration efforts and lack of communication with customers," he continued. The …
The Maryland Public Service Commission issued an order Wednesday directing electricity companies to improve service reliability and resiliency.
Chevy Chase's congressional representative, Rep. Christopher Van Hollen Jr., praised the Maryland Public Service Commission for Wednesday's order requiring the state's utility companies, such as Pepco, to improve the reliability and resiliency of electric service. "I commend the Maryland Public Service Commission for continuing to hold utilities accountable for their restoration efforts as a result of last summer’s derecho," Van Hollen (D-Dist. 8) of Kensington said in a statement. The commission, "using valuable input collected from affected residents, will order Pepco and other Maryland utilities to provide short-term and long-term plans that address sub-standard infrastructure, slow restoration efforts and lack of communication with …
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 …
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 their 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 July 9, …
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Three new bills introduced on Tuesday in the Maryland House of Delegates aim to improve public participation in the Maryland Public Service Commission's oversight of utilities such as Pepco.
Three bills introduced Tuesday in the Maryland House of Delegates aim to make communication between the Maryland Public Service Commission and utility companies operating in Maryland more transparent. "We have a system in which the Maryland Public Service Commission [which oversees electric utility companies, including Pepco and BGE] had allowed our utilities to neglect their infrastructure to the point where it is literally crumbling," said state Delegate Al Carr Jr. (D-District 18), who introduced the three bills to improve public participation and public confidence in the PSC's oversight of utilities, according to a statement from Carr's office. One of the bills proposes live-streaming and archiving all PSC proceedings online. "It is …
Monday, January 14, 2013
In the wake of Pepco's most recent request for permission to raise electricity rates, the county tasked an assistant county attorney to focus solely on utility issues.
Montgomery County now has an in-house attorney dedicated to utility issues. "[Lawyer] Lisa Brennan moved from the Office of Consumer Protection, where she dealt frequently with utility issues, to the Office of the County Attorney where utilities will now dominate her time," Montgomery County spokesman Patrick Lacefield told The Gazette. So far, the county has hired outside attorneys as well as using in-house ones to fight against Pepco's rate increase requests. Dedicating one in-house attorney to utility issues, rather than paying for outside counsel, should save the county some money, The Gazette reported. The county's move to consolidate its efforts to ensure that county residents are paying fair prices for quality utilities comes in …
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Just what the opt-out option will be is still undecided, according to the Maryland Public Service Commission.
Marylanders less-than-thrilled at the thought of having smart meters in their homes might appreciate news from the Maryland Public Service Commission on Monday: The commission is requiring Pepco to give customers an alternative to smart meters—devices that send radio signals about a household’s electricity usage to Pepco. Just what that alternative will be is not yet settled, but the commission has narrowed the list down to two "opt-out" options: The commission will be holding proceedings to determine which alternative should go into effect, but in the meantime, Pepco customers who previously told the utility company that they did not want smart meters on their properties (this was allowed via an interim order from the commission in May) "…
Tuesday, December 11, 2012
Seven Montgomery County Council members call the rate increase request "suspect, unwarranted and unjustified."
Little more than a week has passed since Pepco filed its most recent rate increase request (for $60.8 million) with the Maryland Public Service Commission, and the protests have begun already. Town of Somerset Council Member Cathy Pickar proposed that the Somerset Council write a letter of protest to the PSC to say that the town council is opposed to the rate increase, which Pickar described as "regulatory ransom." "[This rate increase suggests that] if you want improvement, you pay for it first." The rate increase—the second that Pepco has filed this year—has two parts to it, Patch reported last week: (A "typical" residential customer is one who uses approximately 1,000 kilowatt hours a month, Pepco said.) "There’s no question that we are…
Friday, November 30, 2012
Pepco also requested additional funds to accelerate reliability improvements.
If Pepco's most recent rate increase request is approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission, typical residential customers could pay $7.13 more a month in electricity bills. The 4.98 percent increase (based on a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month) would happen only if the PSC approves Pepco's request—made on Friday—for a $60.8 million increase in base distribution rates, according to a Pepco statement. The increase would pay for improvements that Pepco is in the process of making to its distribution system. The improvements—which began in 2010—appear to be working: By 2011, Maryland customers receiving electricity from upgraded feeders experienced 58 percent fewer outages and a 69 percent decrease in the…
J. Anthony
11:02 am on Wednesday, May 15, 2013
Your lack of basic finance is pretty clear. Pepco must make money, i.e. profit, in order to attract the capital it needs do its job. Would you invest in a company if you got nothing in return? more ›