County Will Vigorously Contest Pepco's Request for Rate Increase

The County will vigorously contest Pepco's recent request for a $68 million rate increase.

County Executive Ike Leggett and Council President Roger Berliner said in a joint statement that Pepco's request is "not a nice holiday gift, but more like coal in our County's holiday stocking.”

They went on to say the following:

“Based on our initial review of the 1,000-page filing, we have concluded that the rate request is flawed in many respects, including these three major issues:

• While pitched as only a 4 percent increase, this is spin, not reality. In truth, Pepco's request, when considering only its distribution costs, may be more than double that amount.
• Pepco seeks full recovery of all forecasted reliability related expenditures. The County's position is that shareholders should bear a portion of actual expenditures to increase reliability given Pepco's imprudence in the past.
• Pepco is seeking an increase in its allowed rate of return. The County's position is that Pepco's rate of return should be reduced, not increased."

The County Executive and Council President said that a number of these issues have been awaiting decision since August by the Maryland Public Service Commission in its investigation of Pepco's reliability. The investigation was initiated by the Commission at the request of the County Council.