Public Hearings for Proposed PEPCO Rate Increase

Dear Consumers,

The D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel, your ratepayer advocate, is alerting you to Public Hearings scheduled before the D.C. Public Service Commission in Formal Case No. 1076. OPC is seeking your input on PEPCO’s request for a $51.7 million increase in its electric distribution rates. OPC is calling for a $10.4 million decrease in PEPCO’s current rates.

OPC is challenging components of PEPCO’s request for a rate increase because the Company has not provided adequate justification to support its proposed increase.

OPC believes this case raises critical issues utility consumers face now and will face in the future. For example,

1) PEPCO seeks to shift certain business risks from Company shareholders to consumers with no guarantee that service quality will be improved.

2) PEPCO has failed to adhere to its statutory mandate to provide District consumers safe, adequate and reliable electric service.

3) PEPCO has not detailed how consumers/ratepayers will be prepared and educated for a wave of future technologies, such as smart meters and the Smart Grid, or how the costs of these new technologies will be allocated.

OPC believes it is important for consumers to understand that this rate increase request is part of a continuing march toward higher electric bills. Residential rates over a five year period have increased by 98 %. For example, in 2004, a residential consumer paid $49.00 for 750kWh per month. Today, the same consumer will pay $97.00 per month even before PEPCO’s requested rates are increased. If PEPCO’s request is approved in its entirety, consumers will pay an additional $6.43 each month.

These are your dollars and your service. It is imperative that you attend at least one of the community hearings and raise your issues and voice your concerns on the public record.

To participate in the hearings, you should sign up in advance by contacting the Commission Secretary at 202-626-5150 by the close of business, at least 3 days before each hearing and ask to be placed on the public witness list.

Persons with special needs are encouraged to call the Public Service Commission in advance to assist with any arrangements to facilitate your participation.

If for any reason you are unable to attend the hearings you may submit your written testimony to be included on the public record to Ms. Dorothy Wideman, Director, Office of the Commission Secretary, DC Public Service Commission, 1333 H St. NW Washington DC, 20010. You may also send your testimony by email to dwideman@psc.dc.org.


The three community hearings will convene at the following locations on the dates specified below:

Saturday, October 24, 2009 at 12 Noon
Chevy Chase Community Center
5601 Connecticut Avenue, NW


Friday, November 20, 2009 10:00am
DC Public Service Commission
1333 H Street NW, Hearing Room 7th Floor East Tower


Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Hillcrest Recreation Center
3100 Denver Street, SE