Thursday, February 28, 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 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 June 9, …
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…
Friday, November 2, 2012
Wheaton resident Henriot St. Gerard evaluates PEPCO's performance in the wake of super-storm Sandy.
Friday, December 23, 2011
Montgomery County supports the fine, which is only a fraction of the $14.5-million fine originally requested by the Maryland Office of People's Counsel.
Is the Maryland Public Service Commission little more than a toothless tiger? That’s what some are suggesting in the aftermath of the commission’s move to fine Pepco $1 million for failing to maintain its distribution system and innability to provide reliable electric service. The $1-million fine is only a fraction of the $14.5 million sought by the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, reported The Gazette on Dec. 21. It also follows on the heels of another rate increase request by Pepco that—if approved—would allow the utility to hike Maryland residents’ rates up by more than $68 million. Montgomery County supports the $1-million fine, Montgomery County Executive Isiah Leggett and County Council President Roger Berliner said in a joint …
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Smart meters will help households to monitor electricity usage, and will let Pepco know when the power is starting to fade (or when it's out completely).
Measuring your household’s electricity usage will soon get a lot easier, thanks to Pepco’s new “smart meters,” which the utility company has begun installing on Maryland properties. Smart meters are electronic devices that send low-powered radio signals to Pepco to report on electricity usage at 15-minute intervals, reported Maria Cowan, a Pepco engineer, and Ken Farrell, a Pepco manager, at a meeting of the Village of North Chevy Chase Council on Tuesday, Nov. 15. While current electric meters must be read every month by a meter reader, the new smart meters will send the data directly to Pepco, and—once the region’s meters have all been replaced and the system is up and running—customers will be able to access that data through their …
patty vogel
4:47 pm on Thursday, February 28, 2013
Knee jerk reaction to the power outage is to cut every tree down in Kesington, Silver Spring and Chevy Chase. While you were sleeping MoCo, every tree was cut down. Take a look at St.Pauls street, Dupont, PlyersMill Road, Asphuldh trucks everywhere. more ›