Author: PC-DC Staff    Published: 12/2/2024    Office of the People’s Counsel 

Press Release

December 2, 2024

Washington, DC – DC People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye says the Public Service Commission’s (PSC) November 25 decision to grant Pepco a $123 million rate increase over the next two years is “deeply troubling and grossly unfair.” Regrettably, the Commission also approved a modified version of Pepco’s multiyear rate plan (MYP), opposed by the Office of the People’s Counsel (OPC), that again departs from the PSC’s longstanding traditional method for considering a rate increase each time one is proposed. The PSC’s approval means that the average monthly residential bill will increase by $7.54 in 2025 and by an additional $3.80 in 2026.

In Formal Case 1176, Pepco initially requested a $191 million increase in rates over three years. However, OPC argued the amount was unjustified and more than what was needed to provide reliable and quality electric service. Additionally, OPC reiterated that the prior multiyear rate plan that the PSC approved as a pilot in June of 2021 had not been thoroughly reviewed. Nevertheless, the Commission ultimately approved a modified version of Pepco’s proposal, calling it a “pilot program,” and reducing the dollar amount and length of the MYP.

The Commission reached this decision without holding the statutorily required evidentiary hearing that has been a common legal practice in past rate cases. Such a hearing affords basic due process protection for DC consumers and other stakeholders. In an evidentiary hearing, OPC would have the opportunity to cross-examine Pepco’s witnesses under oath and present its own experts on the record to address a range of important issues including whether a rate increase is even warranted.

“Without explanation, the Commission elected to abandon fundamental protections normally afforded to the public, failed to adequately notify stakeholders, and has instead permitted Pepco to exercise its monopoly power to raise rates,” said People’s Counsel Mattavous-Frye. “It is difficult, if not unheard of, to find any jurisdiction in the United States which would allow utility rates to be raised once, let alone multiple times, without having a public evidentiary hearing.”

Notwithstanding a range of unanswered questions about the prior pilot, Pepco’s questionable projections of future expenditures, and a lack of clarity on Pepco’s impact on the District’s climate goals, the Commission elected to approve this questionable request.

By approving the rate increase as a pilot, the Commission acknowledges that more work needs to be done in determining whether multiyear rate plans, which are a departure from the established ratemaking process used in most states, are right for the District.

Regardless, the Commission has given Pepco a historic rate increase and stripped away standard consumer protections.

Media Contact:

Doxie McCoy

Public Information Officer

(202) 731-9152

dmccoy@opc-dc.gov