Pepco Issues Spotlighted in Government Initiated Report

Montgomery County’s significant problems with Pepco will be spotlighted Monday in a new report by the nationally-known Galvin Electricity Initiative (GEI) that assesses the growing and widespread dissatisfaction with the utility company’s performance here.

A special working group set up by County Executive Isiah Leggett will present their findings in Annapolis during a news conference to shed light on a situation that has frustrated many residents. 

“The prolonged outages in Maryland and the DC-area pose a very real threat in the form of exposed power lines, traffic accidents and other threats to consumer safety,” said John Kelly, deputy director of GEI in a statement.

The Galvln organization, which was founded by former Motorola executive Robert Galvin, will unveil a survey of 10,000 Pepco customers reporting that they had at least one outage of more than five hours in the last year. 

 and it took Pepco officials about 3 days to restore the majority of those customers. The average Pepco customer in Maryland and DC suffers annual outages of more than 300 minutes, well over the national average, the report will show. The Galvin study also will also assert that Maryland is way behind many other states in setting standards for utility companies.

During a late February testimony in Annapolis, Kelly pointed to the “vast public outcry” in Maryland from numerous residents and businesses about the deteriorating situation and its impact on their lives and business.  

”The lack of effective performance metrics and standards has allowed utilities to operate without proper oversight,” he asserted.

He added that the House Bill 391, the Maryland Electricity Service Quality and Reliability Act, seeks to set standards that utilities in the state must meet to deliver more reliable power to their customers.