Pepco

January 3, 2011

           

The Honorable Isiah Leggett

Montgomery County Executive

Executive Office Building

101 Monroe Street

Rockville, Maryland  20850

Dear Mr. Leggett:

The Mid-County Citizens Advisory Board (MCCAB) is writing to express our concern with Pepco’s continuing failure to address the problems that led to extended power outages in the mid-county region.  To date, many trees planted in the right of way on mid-county residential streets have not been touched in well over a decade and aging equipment has not been replaced.

According to reported statements, Pepco’s infrastructure improvements have been concentrated in the western part of the county.  While we are pleased that these areas may receive some relief from outages, it is unconscionable that a greater effort has not been seen thus far throughout the entire County. We in the Mid-County want to see evidence of this effort in our area soon.

Statistics reveal that since 2005, Pepco’s reliability has been among the worst in the nation.  We do not understand how Pepco has been allowed to continue this substandard service.  Our quality of life has suffered, the health and safety of our residents has been jeopardized, and our businesses and their employees have endured unacceptable and unnecessary financial losses.

We support the legislation being introduced by Del. Brian Feldman and the Montgomery County Delegation, to require written standards for Pepco’s reliability and penalize the company if the standards are not met. We hope that the final legislation will include a mechanism to ensure transparency during the process of monitoring Pepco’s performance. This legislation is essential to achieving our goal of normal electricity delivery.  We urge you to make clear to the Public Service Commission that a much more aggressive approach and greater investment by Pepco is required.  We hope you will all testify in Annapolis when the bill hearing is held.

Additionally, we believe that a rate hike suggested by Pepco to address their deficiencies is unjustified at this time.  Pepco shareholders have been rewarded with healthy earnings and dividends, while the electrical infrastructure has been allowed to deteriorate.  This behavior should not be rewarded. Thank you for your leadership and commitment to improving Pepco’s service reliability by establishing this task force.

Sincerely,

L. Blaine Charak

Chair