Heather Curtis
WMAL.com
WASHINGTON (WMAL) – Washingtonians may be paying more for electricity starting in 2020. Pepco asked the D.C. Public Service Commission to raise rates so it can make $162 million dollars more to help pay for work done from 2018 to 2022 to improve reliability, customer service and grid modernization.
If the rate increase is approved, an average residential customer would pay $6.09 more in 2020 according to Kevin McGowan, Pepco’s vice president of regulatory policy and strategy. Despite the increase, McGowan said Washingtonians will still pay about 13% less than they did in 2011 because energy prices overall have gone down.
The programs that help people struggling to pay their bills will stay in place, including the residential aide credit. People who get that credit would not pay more if the rate hike is approved.
McGowan said they’re also trying to launch a pilot program to give discounts to elderly and disabled people who don’t qualify for the residential aide credit. Another proposed program would help customers who are behind on their bills.
Also under the plan, Pepco would face penalties if it doesn’t meet performance standards set by the commission.
As a result of installing stronger polls and more automated equipment, customers saw some of the fewest outages in the company’s history in 2018 as well as some of the fastest restoration times according to Donna Cooper, Pepco’s region president.
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