Monday, January 14, 2013
In the wake of Pepco's most recent request for permission to raise electricity rates, the county tasked an assistant county attorney to focus solely on utility issues.
Montgomery County now has an in-house attorney dedicated to utility issues. "[Lawyer] Lisa Brennan moved from the Office of Consumer Protection, where she dealt frequently with utility issues, to the Office of the County Attorney where utilities will now dominate her time," Montgomery County spokesman Patrick Lacefield told The Gazette. So far, the county has hired outside attorneys as well as using in-house ones to fight against Pepco's rate increase requests. Dedicating one in-house attorney to utility issues, rather than paying for outside counsel, should save the county some money, The Gazette reported. The county's move to consolidate its efforts to ensure that county residents are paying fair prices for quality utilities comes in …
Tuesday, January 8, 2013
Just what the opt-out option will be is still undecided, according to the Maryland Public Service Commission.
Marylanders less-than-thrilled at the thought of having smart meters in their homes might appreciate news from the Maryland Public Service Commission on Monday: The commission is requiring Pepco to give customers an alternative to smart meters—devices that send radio signals about a household’s electricity usage to Pepco. Just what that alternative will be is not yet settled, but the commission has narrowed the list down to two "opt-out" options: The commission will be holding proceedings to determine which alternative should go into effect, but in the meantime, Pepco customers who previously told the utility company that they did not want smart meters on their properties (this was allowed via an interim order from the commission in May) "…
Friday, November 30, 2012
Pepco also requested additional funds to accelerate reliability improvements.
If Pepco's most recent rate increase request is approved by the Maryland Public Service Commission, typical residential customers could pay $7.13 more a month in electricity bills. The 4.98 percent increase (based on a typical residential customer using 1,000 kilowatt hours a month) would happen only if the PSC approves Pepco's request—made on Friday—for a $60.8 million increase in base distribution rates, according to a Pepco statement. The increase would pay for improvements that Pepco is in the process of making to its distribution system. The improvements—which began in 2010—appear to be working: By 2011, Maryland customers receiving electricity from upgraded feeders experienced 58 percent fewer outages and a 69 percent decrease in the…
Thursday, November 15, 2012
The new Bing map makes it easy to report streetlight outages.
The next time you spot a burned-out streetlight, try Pepco's new upgraded online streetlight outage reporting system. It's an easy system to use. At the "Report a Streetlight or Area Light Problem" page of Pepco's website, one may enter in the streetlight pole's number or an address in the vicinity of the streetlight, and one will be presented with a Bing map indicating where all of the streetlights are located in that area. Hover the cursor over the green dot representing the streetlight that is out, and one will get a pop-up menu with a link allowing one to "click here to report a problem for this light." "Once a streetlight problem is reported, the new reporting system sends the customer an email with a tracking number, location and …
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Residents have opposed Pepco's plans to cut trees.
A bill to regulate utility companies' management of vegetation around utility poles and wires is dead, at least for now. "We pulled that matter off [the Montgomery County Council's agenda] because the county attorney had advised us that our legal authority with respect to tree trimming was circumscribed, and so we would need to retest the legislation," said Montgomery County Council President Roger Berliner (D-Bethesda), who had proposed the bill along with Councilman Marc B. Elrich (D-at large) of Takoma Park. But, the proposal hasn't disappeared. "We are figuring out together how best we can proceed. ... [We're] figuring out the best and most responsible path forward," Berliner said. Meanwhile, many county residents are not pleased with …
Friday, March 23, 2012
Spokesman says affected customers have been identified and the problem is being corrected.
A glitch in a new billing system used by Baltimore Gas and Electric has resulted in some customers being double billed for some electricity supply charges. Aaron Koos, a BGE spokesman, said the issue affects about 14,000 or about 1 percent of its 1.2 million customers in central Maryland who buy their electricity from suppliers other than BGE. "We've identified the issue and the affected customers," Koos said. BGE serves electricity customers in Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The company explained the issue after a customer, who asked to remain anonymous, contacted Patch on Wednesday about the over-charges. BGE is in the midst of upgrading its billing system for …
Friday, October 22, 2010
Emergency Medical Equipment Notification Program and prioritizing issues were the main focus of the hearing.
In an impassioned meeting with Pepco officials Thursday, Montgomery County Council members raised concerns about Pepco's priorities for restoring service during major outages like those experienced this summer. The group met in Rockville as part of continuing discussions on the problems and safety concerns about the numerous Pepco outages this summer in which hundreds of thousands of Montgomery and Prince George's residents were without power for multiple days. The council's Public Safety Committee and the Department of Health and Human Services focused this meeting on how Pepco has responded to the needs of people who depend on electricity for life-supporting medical devices. "Why can't you play a more active role in assisting the …
MaryJane
10:37 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Educate yourself on all the reasons why having more RF radiation is anything but Smart! Opt out, write your legislators! /http://marylandsmartmeterawareness.org more ›