Residents Speak, Pepco Listens

About 50 Prince George's County residents and business owners gathered in Hallam Theatre at Prince George's Community College Aug. 2 to voice their concerns and praises for Pepco's handling of the July 25 storm-induced power outages.

The community meeting, facilitated by members of the Public Service Commission of Maryland, follows a similar meeting held earlier this week in Rockville for Montgomery County customers.  According to the commission's chairman, Douglas Nazarian, the Montgomery County meeting hosted about 200 Pepco customers and went until midnight. Thursday's turnout was not as strong, but members were just as attentive to each individual that spoke their five-minute piece.

The meeting began with protesters from Justice First, a DC-based organization that demands "a moratorium on shut offs and 50% rollback in rates," who kept claiming "electricity is not a privilege." Both members quietly sat down and remained in their seats for the duration of the meeting holding up neon green signs reading, "No more profit for Pepco until the problem is fixed."

Justice First was followed by several customers who spoke in praise of Pepco's service, claiming they had a very good relationship with Pepco and did not wish for a new company to take over or for the government to take over Pepco.

Then, State Sen. Jim Rosapepe (D-Dist. 21), reached the microphone and spoke out against Pepco's service. Rosapepe said that rates have gone up, while service has gone down. He then proposed a plan that would model Maryland's utilities after those of Austria, with underground connections instead of power poles that are weak against fallen trees.

A slew of complaints against Pepco's service followed. Two residents from Lord's Landing Condominiums in Upper Marlboro spoke on frequent power surges in their neighborhood. One resident, Charmell Trotmon, said she has been keeping track of the surges since the July storms, noting five surges and one total power outage.

"I have lived in Lord's Landing for seven years and the surges have been going on so long I have Pepco on speed dial," she said.

Another impassioned resident, Donna Stinson of Capital Heights, had complaints about her enormous electricity bill of $748. As the owner of a single-family home and a 12-hour-a-day worker, she saw this as a problem and called Pepco several times to reduce it. Stinson said talking on the phone is not enough because her quoted rates have been inconsistent.

"I am angry, upset and I'm stressed. Very stressed," Stinson said. "I adjusted my schedule to be here and I want something in writing."

Members of the audience clapped as Stinson bowed away from the microphone and a commission representative quietly tapped her on the shoulder to follow him outside as she returned to her seat.

There were two commission representatives present to handle individual problems, like Stinson's.

"What Pepco wants especially, is to hear the voice of the customer. Hear the problems. Find out how we can help and develop a strong connection, stronger partnership," said Pepco spokesman Clay Anderson.

Pepco has a six-point plan on how to solve the problem, Anderson said. The plan includes tree-trimming, improvemet of priority feeders (the electric distribution line for an area of up to 1,100 customers), evaluation of growth,  an automated electric system, replacement of above ground cables with underground ones and increasing the reliability of supply lines.

Anderson, a Montgomery County resident from Silver Spring, said this series of meetings is not the first and that Pepco wants to make sure whether there is a storm or not, the company will make sure to provide better communication and faster in the future.