[WardFive] Fw: People's Counsel's Frye Response on Power Outages

Below is our People's Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Fyre ersponse to the EM it post on W5 listservs on Sat.

 

"Let there be Light"
 
Albrette "Gigi" Ransom
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----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Sandra Mattavous-Frye <smfrye@opc-dc.gov>
To: Gigi Ransom <gigifor5c12@yahoo.com>
Cc: Kenyan (Council) McDuffie <kmcduffie@dccouncil.us>; Phil Mendelson <pmendelson@dccouncil.us>; Yvette Alexander <yalexander@dccouncil.us>; Laurence Daniels <ldaniels@opc-dc.gov>; Phillp Harmon <pharmon@opc-dc.gov>; Herbert Jones <hjones@opc-dc.gov>; Karen Sistrunk <ksistrunk@opc-dc.gov>
Sent: Monday, June 25, 2012 2:21 AM
Subject: RE: Its 6:00pm: Where's Pepco's the Online/Listserv Updates to the Affected Communities

Gigi,

 

As always you are on point.  The rain storm was forecasted days before it hit. Once again, the hardest hit areas were Wards 3, 4, and 5.  I was one of the 9,000 consumers who woke up without power on Saturday.  In countless expensive television and newspaper ads and in hearings before the PSC, the Company has claimed that it has heavily invested money in reliability improvements. Yet the problem remains unresolved, and DC consumers are asked to pay more and more money with no guarantee that the problem will be corrected.  It is untenable that we find ourselves pretty much in the same place we were. Pepco appears to be putting forth a lot of effort to shift public perception but there has been little measurable change in reliability.

 

In my own situation,  I called the outage line  at 5:30 am  and was routed to a live person (out of state), who told me there was a downed tree  on  poles near Franklin and Michigan Ave, NE.  Unfortunately, my later attempts to call back on the outage line were unsuccessful. I did speak with Dr Cooper who confirmed that a repair crew was at the location. My power was restored at about 3:00 pm. OPC will ask for  an expedited report from Pepco regarding the cause of the outage and Pepco's restoration efforts. Please feel free to contact me.

 

Consumers should continue to contact officials, including my office, to ensure that Pepco is held accountable. Meaningful community involvement is critical.  I am attending an out of town conference until Wednesday, but will be in contact with my office daily.

Mendelson; Yvette Alexander; llee@psc.dc.gov
Subject: Its 6:00pm: Where's Pepco's the Online/Listserv Updates to the Affected Communities

It is gratifying to hear that there was only one DC resident who sustained a major injury from last night's storm that sweep through DC and the counties.  Though you don't want anyone hurt, due to the velosity of the storm, fallen trees and power lines it could have been worst.

 

We just came out of additional rounds of Formal Case 1087, Pepco rate increase request for over $42 million dollars!  Again, thanks to not only Kathy H, other W5 residents along with citywide ANCs, community leaders, AARP, other community and businesses orgs, along with just plain feed up residents who didn't believe that Pepco had made enough progress in turning things around to more positive business operations, quality of service, reliability and responses to emergency situations.  I thought last year's response to the Hurricane, other isolated matters showed that Pepco took to heart the outcries from MD & DC residents and elected officials.  I gave them a little benefit of the doubt, but also didn't agree that they deserved a rate increase, Pepco had to truly earn it this time.

 

Pepco's preparedness and response to yesterday's swift moving storm perdicted and reported to occur from 3-5 days prior showed they are not.  From what I heard, as of 12:00 noon, over 9,000 DC residents were still without power. About 1 hr ago, I heard the number was reduced to 7,000. Since last year, all the commercials, print and other ads, millions of dollars of ratepayers money was spent to try to convince ratepayers about how much Pepco has improved to justify the rate increase request was just a waste of ratepayer dollars since too many thousands are still without power.

 

Late last night, I reported to Jeannette Mobley that power lines and what looked like a small transformer was down in my SMD by 4520 Ft. Totten Road NE due to the storm.  Have to take that back because I learned this afternoon that this line has been down for about 1 week.  Fire Dept taped off.  It is safe to assume Fire Dept reported this through the proper channels.  Why wasn't this problem repaired prior to the storm?

 

 What happened?  Because the PSC hearing a few weeks ago didn't seem to go Pepco's way was there a decision made not to prepare for this predicted severe storm, have out-of-town crews here in the Metro area on standby readiness?  Doesn't Pepco have a more advanced weather system or access to one than the average ratepayer?

 

On top of that, again, there has been no direct continuous communications with the public other than news reports.  Just saw one that focused on MD.  Hmmm, they have a Governor and PSC that is seriously upset with Pepco.  We need a Press Release from our PSC as to their concerns about the progress or lack thereof.  Hoep CM Alexander will hold a hearing on this matter.  DDOT sent one out this morning (9:33am) advising of the cleanup crews (below). Also below is the Pepco 5:30pm News Release from their website.  Didn't check prior to writing this.

 

CM McDuffie and Jeannette, their staff have been hard at work throughout the night and today trying to get answers and related problems resolved and assistance for those in W5 that have been adversely impacted, not knowing when the lights will come back on.

 

New century, advances in technology, trained workers, yet, we get another 3rd World response.

 

We can't let the few continue to stand up for the many in their efforts to fight these continuous Pepco rate increase requests.  Pepco, a multi million or maybe billion dollar corporation which has been documented to pay no taxes continue to get away with treating its ratepayers as an option, with the pockets of their executives and shareholders being the priority!

 

Had enough? What do you have to say?  Also like let your appointed and elected officials know.  Send emails.

 

"Let there be Light" Hopefully for all DC residents TONIGHT, not sunday or Monday morning like the Pepco News Release states!
 
Albrette "Gigi" Ransom

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Pepco Crews Working Round the Clock to Restore Power

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Thunderstorm Leaves Severe Damage in its Wake

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Crews and support personnel are working around the clock to restore power

to customers after severe thunderstorms left devastation in some neighborhoods and infrastructure

damage across Pepco's service territory.

In preparation for the storm, Pepco lined up additional crews and call center personnel. Crews from

other utilities also are helping restore power.

As of 5:30 p.m. Saturday, crews had restored power to approximately more than 75 percent of the

customers who lost electricity. At the peak late Friday night, about 45,000 customers were without

power — more than 18,000 in the District of Columbia, more than 17,000 in Prince George's County

and 9,000 in Montgomery County. As of 5:30 p.m. Saturday, fewer than 11,000 remained without

power — 3,800 in D.C., about 6,500 in Prince George's County and about 500 in Montgomery

County.

Prince George's County and areas in Northeast D.C. suffered the most severe damage and were

where more outages were concentrated.

Thomas H. Graham, President, Pepco Region, toured affected areas Saturday afternoon.

"The devastation in some neighborhoods was profound," Graham said. "In one case, we had

someone's roof on one of our utility poles. We are working very hard to get the power back on, but we

are dealing with many challenges."

Much of the damage was caused by trees — many uprooted; some through buildings; and many that

took down wires, broke crossarms and in some cases cracked or broke utility poles.

Customers are asked to please avoid downed wires, even if they don't appear to be energized.

Customers can report downed wires by calling 1-877-PEPCO62. Customers also are asked to report

outages by calling 1-877-PEPCO62, through pepco.com or through the mobile app, available for

download through pepco.com/mobileapp.

Pepco anticipates restoring power:

· To Montgomery County by the early morning hours Sunday

· To most of the District and Prince George's County very late Sunday night, into early Monday hours

· To the hardest-hit areas of Bladensburg, Hyattsville, Cheverly plus some areas in Northeast D.C.

later into Monday morning or early afternoon.

For more information and updates, visit www.pepco.com, follow us on Facebook and Twitter at

PepcoConnect and download our mobile app at www.pepco.com/mobileapp.

###

Pepco, a subsidiary of Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM), delivers safe, reliable and affordable

electric service to more than 788,000 customers in Maryland and the District of Columbia.

 

 

 

_______________________________________

DDOT List DDOT List

Government of the District of Columbia

Department of Transportation

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Media Contact: John Lisle at 202‐486‐5838, john.lisle@dc.gov

District Crews Cleaning Up Tree Damage

(Washington, D.C.) Crews from the District Department of Transportation (DDOT) are working this morning to remove

downed trees, branches and debris from District streets and neighborhoods. Damage caused by last night's storm has

already generated more than 100 tree‐related service requests for DDOT and its contractors, with the worst damage

reported in Wards 4 and 5.

District residents are reminded to call 311 or go online at 311.dc.gov to report downed trees and branches in public space.

The service requests are immediately forwarded to DDOT's Urban Forestry Administration (UFA). Priority is given to street trees that have fallen on homes, cars and power lines, and trees that are blocking roadways; then UFA will shift its focus to storm clean up in alleys and other tree related storm debris.

DDOT is also coordinating with Pepco to address locations where wires are tangled in downed trees. To report a power

outage please call Pepco at 877‐PEPCO62. Customers may report outages online at pepco.com or download Pepco's smart phone app, pepco.com/mobileapp, to report and track their outages.

District residents are reminded that trees and branches that fall on or from private property are the responsibility of the

property owners.

####

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