Interim People's Counsel Seeks AnswersAbout Outages During the Recent Heat Wave
Dear Consumers,
The summer is far from over yet thousands of consumers have already experienced the awful combination of historically high temperatures and failed electric service. The Office of the People's Counsel has heard from many of you and is taking steps to avoid a reoccurrence of similar outages throughout the summer.
While we work to learn more from PEPCO about the events leading up to the heat related outages in the city, there are several things we want all consumers to know in order to be prepared in the event of an outage incident.
In the District of Columbia, more than 70 percent of PEPCO's distribution system is located underground.In cases where underground service lines are involved, it is more difficult to find the source of the outage. As a result, the restoration of service is often much more time consuming.
What You Can Do
Do not assume that PEPCO is aware of an outage or a neighbor has called to report an outage. PEPCO needs to hear from every affected customer to help locate problem areas.Call PEPCO's 24-hour outage report line - 1-877-PEPCO-62 (1-877-737-2662). If you cannot use your home phone, it is still important to call and follow the prompts. Make sure PEPCO has a working phone number where you can be reached about service restoration.
Check on elderly and at-risk friends and family to make sure they have access to plenty of water, a telephone and food.
Electricity customers can take simple electricity conservation steps:
Close curtains and blinds to keep out the sun and retain cooler air inside,
Postpone using major electric household appliances such as stoves, dishwashers and clothes dryers until the cooler evening hours,
If health permits, set air conditioner thermostats higher than usual, and
Turn off electric appliances and equipment that you do not need or are not using.
Keep the following numbers handy:
D.C. Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Hotline (202) 727-6161--to request assistance with emergency shelter or report a hazardous condition
PEPCO Safety Emergency (202) 872-3432-to report wires down
PEPCO Claims Office (202) 872-2455-- to request a form for electric service related damages
OPC (202) 727-3071-to obtain any information or assistance
Councilmember Muriel Bowser (Wd-4)
Chair of the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs has indicated that she intends to hold a public roundtable on the citywide outages and PEPCO's next steps to address this continuing problem, in the coming weeks. OPC will provide more details as they are made available.
The Office of the People's Counsel is an independent agency of the District of Columbia Government representing energy and telecommunications service customers.
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