Tonight's Public Hearing on Pepco Merger to be Televised

Do you want to watch tonight's public hearing by the Maryland Public Service Commission on the proposed merger of Pepco Holdings and Chicago-based Exelon Corporation but don't want to go out in the cold? Good news. County Cable Montgomery will televise the hearing live starting at 6 p.m.

In April 2014, Chicago-based Exelon Corp., which owns Baltimore Gas and Electric Co., proposed a $6.8 billion merger with Pepco Holdings, which owns three electric and gas utilities (Pepco, Atlantic City Electric and Delmarva Power). Pepco serves customers in parts of Maryland in the District of Columbia.

The merger was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in November, by the Virginia State Corporation Commission in October and by Pepco shareholders in September. However, the proposal still requires approval by the U.S. Department of Justice and public service commissions in Maryland, Delaware, the District of Columbia and New Jersey.

The Maryland Public Service Commission can eventually approve the proposed merger, reject it or impose conditions.

The merger agreement has been unanimously approved by both companies' boards of directors.

If you plan to attend in person and would like to speak, you can sign up in the lobby of the Council Office Building prior to the hearing.

Letter to Governor on Electric Reliability

This joint letter to the Governor from the County Executive and the County Council is a good step in the right direction in our efforts to ensure relilable electricity service in Montgomery County. In it, we support much of the Grid Resiliency Task Force's report and suggest further measures. Kudos to Ike Leggett for his work on this. Here's the full text of the letter:

January 16, 2013

The Honorable Martin O'Malley
Office of the Governor
100 State Circle
Annapolis, Maryland 21401

Dear Governor O'Malley:

We are writing to say how pleased we are regarding your filing of the Report of the Grid Resiliency Task Force ("Report") released October 3, 2012 and your continuing concern with the reliability of the electricity distribution system in Maryland. As you know, Montgomery County has long been concerned about the reliability and resiliency of the electric system that serves the residents and businesses of Montgomery County.

We share the principles guiding the recommendations in the Report (p. 6) and many of
the recommendations in the Report are ones Montgomery County has fought for in the past. In particular, Montgomery County agrees with the need for the Major Outage Event Reports (as well as other reports) to provide more detail "to allow regulators or other interested parties to make specific recommendations regarding hardening systems, improving operational flexibility,or reducing restoration times" (p. 76).

Montgomery County, however, asks that you, through the Public Service Commission
(PSC), take two additional steps: 1) require PSC Staff to perform a formal review of the Major Outage Event Reports (and all other reports) submitted by utilities to confirm compliance with the Regulations (the PSC should invite public comment as part of this review process); and 2) the PSC should issue findings at the conclusion of its review and these findings should indicate,based on the report, what quartile ofreliability the electric utility filing the report is on track to achieve.

Montgomery County also respectfully disagrees with the Report's recommendation to
allow for a tracker cost recovery mechanism. The County has opposed this type of mechanism in the past and continues to maintain that Pepco should have to show that the money it spends on infrastructure is done prudently, efficiently, and effectively through the normal regulatory process before asking ratepayers to pay for these proposed improvements.

Montgomery County was an active participant in the PSC's Rule Making 43 Work Group
and we look forward to working with the PSC to continue to improve the service quality and reliability standards for Maryland's electric companies.

In closing, we urge you to ensure that the PSC keeps the spotlight focused firmly on the goal of this important matter-namely, improving the reliability of the electric power grid for Maryland. Taking the additional steps we urge will help achieve that goal.

Sincerely,

Isiah Leggett
County Executive

Nancy Navarro, President
County Council

My Request for an Action Plan re Pepco

The County must create a quantifiable and actionable roadmap for what it expects from Pepco and the Maryland Public Service Commission regarding the utility company’s ongoing performance issues. That's why I sent a memorandum to the County Executive asking for a assessment and action plan by November.

Here is the full text of the memorandum:

August 9, 2012

TO: Isiah Leggett, County Executive

FROM: Nancy Floreen, Councilmember

RE: Ongoing role, influence and participation by the Montgomery County Government before the Public Service Commission (PSC) on performance issues related to Pepco

After listening to the Council's July 24 briefing and the Public Service Commission’s August 7 public hearing, I realized that while there has been significant public dialogue, the County still needs a clear roadmap of what it is asking from Pepco or the PSC.

We have heard many anecdotal stories about Pepco’s lack of preparedness, failure to communicate and deficiency in systematic investment. Also, much attention has been devoted to tree maintenance and the unprecedented circumstances of the latest storm. However, very little has been stated or documented in a quantifiable and actionable fashion.

We need to know where we stand and what exactly to do about it, as a unified County.

Therefore, I request that the County’s attorneys and outside consultants (if necessary) be tasked with providing the Executive and Council with a full assessment of the Pepco work plan, including an evaluation of Pepco's responses to the derecho storm and the continuing occurrence of blue sky outages.

Our legal team should be prepared to identify any legislative remedies which may be necessary to ensure access to Pepco data, systems and any other information that we need in order to be meaningrul participants in solving the ongoing problems.

Given the extraordinary financial losses that the County and its residents have suffered as a result of the electric infrastructure problems over recent years, there can be no doubt that the time has come to take more aggressive action. We must ensure that the excellent recommendations of the 2011 Pepco Working Group are fully implemented, and we owe it to our residents to exercise the maximum oversight of Pepco's efforts. That means we need complete and accurate data and a clearly delineated plan of action.

I propose a November date for receipt of this work in order to prepare for the 2013 legislative session if necessary.

I look forward to continuing to work with you to resolve this crisis.

Public Service Commission to Hold Hearing on June 29 Storm Response

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) has scheduled public hearings around the state to ask residents for their opinions and experiences regarding the response of power-providing utilities following the June 29 storm that left many customers without electricity for more than a week. The PSC hearings will cover all three power utilities that serve Montgomery County, including a hearing on Tuesday, Aug. 7, in Rockville that will primarily focus on Pepco.

The Aug. 7 hearing on Pepco will begin at 7 p.m. in the Third Floor Council Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be available via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

To speak at any of the public hearings, you must sign up on the night of the public hearing at the facility where the hearing is being held. A table will be established outside of the respective hearing rooms for signups to speak. Speakers generally will be allotted a maximum of five minutes.

The PSC has scheduled a total of eight public hearings on the storm. Public hearings that focus on Baltimore Gas and Electric Company will be held Monday, Aug.13 (7 p.m. in the Joint Hearing Room of the Legislative Services Building, 90 State Circle in Annapolis); Tuesday, Aug. 14 (7 p.m. in the Paul C. Wolman Assembly Room of the War Memorial Building, 101 N. Gay Street in Baltimore); Wednesday, Aug. 15 (7 p.m. in the Banneker Room of the George Howard Building at 3430 Court House Drive in Ellicott City); and Thursday, Aug. 16 (7 p.m. in Hearing Room No. 106 of the Baltimore County Office Building, 111 West Chesapeake Avenue, in Towson).

A hearing that will focus on the Potomac Edison Company will be held Monday, Aug. 20 (7 p.m. in Winchester Hall, 12 East Church Street, in Frederick).

For additional information about the hearings, contact Regina L. Davis of the Public Service Commission at rdavis@psc.state.md.us or at 410-767-8054.

Written public comments may be submitted by Sept. 10 to: David J. Collins, Executive Secretary, Maryland Public Service Commission, William Donald Schaefer Tower, 6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor, Baltimore, Maryland 21202.

County's Response to June 29 Storm

Did you know that the June 29 derecho left 261,445 out of 351,971 Montgomery County electricity customers (across three utility companies) without power? About 69 percent of our traffic signals lost power as well as 91 percent of the nursing homes and 93 percent of the large assisted living facilities. That’s in addition to both WSSC water treatment plants losing power. These issues were compounded by the extremely high temperatures that followed. Get more details and an assessment of Montgomery County’s response in the packet from our July 24 briefing from the Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security. The slideshow starts on page 4.

Council to Hold Debriefing on Pepco's Response

On Thursday, July 19, the Council will hold a debriefing to gain a better understanding of Pepco’s performance following the sudden and powerful storm that struck the Washington Region on the evening of June 29. Four days after the storm, approximately 100,000 customers in Montgomery County were still without electric power and more than 100 of the County’s 800 traffic signals were not operational.

The meeting will be held in the Third Floor Council Hearing Room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. in Rockville. The meeting will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also will be available via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

At the meeting, Maryland Public Service Commission Chairman Doug Nazarian will describe how the Commission will assess Pepco's performance in restoring power. Pepco CEO and Chairman of the Board Joe Rigby has been invited to share his perspective on his company's response. The County Executive also has been invited to discuss the County's role in responding to the storm and any lessons learned from the experience. In addition, Maryland State Delegate Brian Feldman and State Senator Rob Garagiola, who sit on General Assembly committees with jurisdiction over utilities, will share their perspectives.

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.

County Files Brief in Pepco Investigation

Despite earlier reports that Montgomery County would withdraw its participation in the Maryland Public Service Commission's (PSC) investigation into Pepco's reliability, you can rest assured we are fully in the game, recently filing a brief in support of improving Pepco's service.

The 57-page brief argues that the PSC should declare that Pepco has been "imprudent" in operating an unreliable electric system in Maryland since at least 2005, and that the PSC should impose the following remedies:

~Require that Pepco/PHI's shareholders, not Pepco's customers, bear the cost of improving the quality of its service to at least a "second quartile" reliability level; 

~Consider reducing Pepco's allowed rate of return on equity and require Pepco to provide certain billing credits to its customers; and 

~Ultimately, consider modifying Pepco's service territory or revoking Pepco’s authority to exercise its franchise.

On August 8, Montgomery County and all other parties may file additional reply briefs answering the arguments contained in each other's initial briefs. The Public Service Commission then will review all the briefs in the hearing record and issue a written order deciding the case.

Committee to Discuss Pepco Tree Trimming

The Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee will discuss Pepco’s tree trimming program on Monday, July 18, at 2:00. Because vegetation is the primary cause of outages during major storms, Pepco is increasing its tree trimming efforts. But with that increase comes concerns from neighborhoods about loss of tree canopy and resulting changes in the character of neighborhoods (or the character of officially designated rustic roads). Pepco officials, County staff, and community representatives will be on hand to help us sort out the issues. Tune in to County Cable Montgomery (channel 6) to watch the meeting live.

Pepco Work Group Releases Survey Results

The results are in. The County's Pepco Work Group received nearly 12,000 responses to the survey it conducted in January and February. A total of 10,895 residents responded, while 654 businesses completed the survey. Among the findings reported by Pepco customers taking the survey are:

• Almost 95% reported they had experienced at least one outage of more than five hours in the past year. Just over 50% also reported that they had experienced non-major-event-related outages of more than one hour in the past year.


• The economic costs of long outages experienced in the past year can be estimated, based on reports obtained from survey respondents, from $22.9 to $114.6 million for residents in Montgomery County and $21.1 to $211 million for businesses. Pepco’s Montgomery County customers appear to be incurring outage-related costs that are on the same magnitude as Pepco’s 2010 earnings of $139 million.


• 10,430 residential respondents, or 95.7%, experienced one or more outages of longer than five hours in the past year. Of these respondents, almost 65% reported calling Pepco more than twice to check the status of the outage. Only 5% of Pepco’s residential customers reported that they did not attempt to call Pepco at all. Of those who experienced long outages, 85.5% incurred costs or other economic losses that they otherwise would not have incurred.


• 609 commercial respondents, or 94.9%, experienced one or more outages of longer than five hours in the past year. Of those who experienced long outages, 83.3% incurred costs or other economic losses that they otherwise would not have incurred.

There are a number of cases pending before the Public Service Commission as well as legislation being considered in the Maryland General Assembly that may help to improve Pepco’s reliability. To learn more, see the Pepco Special Edition of my newsletter.

Independent Consultant Files Pepco Report

Hot off the press, here's the independent consustant's report in Public Service Commission case 9240--the investigation into Pepco's reliability. According to the executive summary, "if there was any overall theme to the findings from this investigation, it was that Pepco needs to be more proactive, rather than reactive, in dealing with problems." The report also notes, "We found that trees are in fact the primary cause of the most potentially-preventable outages in Pepco's Maryland service area." The County will provide direct testimony on this report on May 6, and the PSC will hold an evidentiary hearing on June 16, 17, 20 and 21. The date for a final ruling has not been determined.

County Files Comments with PSC on Reliability Standards

Montgomery County has filed comments with the Maryland Public Service Commission in response to the PSC’s proposed revision of the state regulation regarding service provided by electric companies. This rule making procedure (RM43) is separate from the ongoing investigation into Pepco’s reliability (case 9240). To sort out the different cases and timelines, see the special Pepco edition of my newsletter.

The County’s eight-page response regarding definition of an acceptable level of reliability for Pepco addresses “inadequate” discretionary civil penalties. It says that these penalties in no way compare to the financial hardships experienced by the community. The comments reflect the frustration we have heard loud and clear from our constituents.

Check out the full text of Montgomery County’s response.

Pepco Files Major Storm Report for January 26

Pepco has filed its required Major Storm Report (item 6) on the January 26 snowstorm with the Public Service Commission. The report covers the number and causes of outages, the number and type of responses and timetables for restoration. Remember, this case (#9256) is a routine investigation required for all power companies after a major storm. It is separate from the ongoing investigation into Pepco’s reliability (case #9240). On March 3 at 9:30 a.m. the PSC will hold a hearing on the January 26 event. You can watch the hearing live online.

Follow the Bouncing Ball: Pepco Reliability

There's a lot going on when it comes to the efforts to get Pepco to improve its service reliability and communications, and it can be difficult to sort out all the moving pieces and the various players. It is important to understand that Pepco is regulated by the Public Service Commission, which is a State agency. While the County does not have any direct authority over Pepco, we have been strong advocates for reform.

Last year, we asked the PSC to open an investigation into Pepco, and that investigation (Case 9240) is in progress now. But wait, there's more, including a routine investigation of the January 26 snowstorm, pending recommendations from the County's Pepco Work Group and legislation at the State level. Here's what you should know right now:

Montgomery County Special Counsel on Utility Regulation

~Montgomery County hired Stanley Balis, a nationally recognized attorney with more than 30 years specializing in utility regulation and related issues, to represent our interests in a number of cases coming before the Public Service Commission, including those listed here.

Montgomery County Pepco Work Group

~The Pepco Work Group is comprised of community leaders who were appointed to investigate the reliability of Pepco's service in Montgomery County and formulate concrete steps necessary to improve that service. It works in close partnership with Special Counsel Balis. If you wrote to me, I forwarded your comments to the group. The Work Group's final recommendations will be sent to the Maryland Public Service Commission as part of Montgomery County's testimony in Case 9240. To weigh in, e-mail the Office of Consumer Protection or take the online survey.

Public Service Commission Case 9240 (investigation into Pepco reliability)
~The public comment period has been completed and included statements from Montgomery County elected officials in addition to County residents. The County's Pepco Work Group will file its report on behalf of our interests in this case.

~An independent consultant will file a report on March 4.

~Montgomery County will provide direct testimony on the consultant's report on May 6.
The PSC will hold an evidentiary hearing on June 16, 17, 20 and 21. The hearing is open to the public (although no further testimony will be taken), or you can follow it live online.

~The date for a final ruling has not been determined.

Public Service Commission Case 9256 (investigation into January 26 snowstorm)

~This is a routine investigation required for all power companies after a major storm.
A legislative hearing will be held on March 3. The hearing is open to the public (although no public testimony will be taken), or you can follow it live online.

~The date for a final ruling has not been determined.

Public Service Commission Administrative Docket (RM 43)

~This is a Rule Making action in which the PSC seeks comments on its proposed changes to the Code of Maryland Regulations to set standards for all electric utilities.

~The County will submit testimony on this case, but no public testimony will be accepted.

Legislation

~State Delegate Brian Feldman introduced legislation that would require the PSC to adopt enhanced reliability standards by July 2012. Under Emergency Bill HB391, utilities could be fined for poor performance. The bill was submitted to the Economic Matters Committee, which will decide when to hold a hearing in Annapolis.

Routine Complaints

~You can always file a general complaint with the Public Service Commission or with the Maryland Office of the People's Counsel.

While we work our way through these issues, remember this: when your power goes out, you must call Pepco every day so that they know the lights are still out. In the meantime, I will do everything I can to keep up the pressure on Pepco and the Public Service Commission, and I continue to welcome your input so let me know your thoughts.

Monday Briefing on Pepco Reliability

Tune in to County Cable Montgomery (channel 6) on February 7 at 2:00 for the Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee’s briefing on Pepco reliability. Pepco officials will answer questions posed by the committee and will update us on the status and timing of Pepco-related items before the Maryland Public Service Commission and related State legislation under consideration. If you want to attend in person, come to the Council Office Building’s third floor hearing room.

Not Too Late to Take Pepco Survey

If you haven’t yet completed the online Pepco feedback survey conducted by the County’s Pepco Work Group, you still have a chance. The deadline has been extended to February 7. Note: if you wrote to me about Pepco, I forwarded your comments to the Pepco Work Group.

The survey is designed to obtain information on how the public views Pepco’s service, the extent to which customers have experienced outages, the economic impact of those outages and some insight as to what additional costs customers would be willing to incur in exchange for improved service.

Two different surveys, one for business customers and one for residential customers, are offered. Click on the appropriate link to take the survey that applies:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PEPCOBUSINESS and/or http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PEPCORESIDENTIAL. If both apply, customers are asked to complete each one.

The Pepco Work Group is comprised of community leaders who were appointed to investigate the reliability of Pepco’s service in Montgomery County and formulate concrete steps necessary to improve that service. The County will share the Work Group’s final recommendations with Pepco and the Maryland Public Service Commission (Pepco’s regulatory authority).

Public Hearing on Pepco Reliability, Aug. 30

I encourage our residents to write to the Public Service Commission with their experiences and to sign up to speak at the upcoming public hearing. There must be a change in the way Pepco is held accountable for its service delivery failures. We need residents to tell their stories on how these continued power outages are impacting their lives.

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) will continue its investigation into “the reliability of Potomac Electric Power Company’s (Pepco) electric distribution system and the quality of electric distribution service that Pepco is providing its customers” by holding a public hearing at the Montgomery County Council’s Stella Werner Office Building in Rockville at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30.

The public hearing will be held in the third floor hearing room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. Elected officials who wish to speak should contact the PSC’s director of legislative affairs by Aug. 27. Others wishing to speak must sign in at the hearing room starting at 5:30 p.m. Speakers will be limited to a maximum of five minutes. All attending must bring photo identification to enter the hearing room.

Written comments may be filed by Aug. 31. Originally signed comments on paper may be submitted to Terry J. Romine, Executive Secretary, Maryland Public Service Commission, William Donald Schaefer Tower, 6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202. Comments must reference “Case No. 9240—Public Comment.” To ensure comments are entered into the PSC docket system, all comments must be mailed or hand-delivered. Comments sent via e-mail or fax will not be entered into the Commission’s docket system.

The public hearing will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also can be viewed via streaming through the County Web site at www.montgomerycountymd.gov.

Deeply Disappointed by Pepco's Responses at Hearing

I was deeply disappointed in the responses Pepco gave this morning in the first hearing the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) held in its investigation of the electricity provider’s reliability. Pepco officials were unprepared for many of the Commission’s questions, and it was clear the company does not have a verifiable plan for ensuring reliable service for the future. Today’s hearing proved that the PSC must establish accountability standards that will measure the performance of state utilities, including Pepco.

The PSC had ordered Pepco’s chief operating officer and the company’s senior officers responsible for system reliability and construction of maintenance, storm restoration and customer service and communications to appear at today’s hearing. The PSC is working on other aspects of its investigation, including a likely public hearing to be held within the next several weeks in Rockville.

I call upon the PSC to require a reliability plan from Pepco with accountability measures that Montgomery County residents can count on in the future. I also call upon the PSC to require Pepco to prepare an emergency communications and priorities plan. It is increasingly clear that Pepco's actions have been ad hoc, uncoordinated and undercapitalized.

The PSC announced on Aug. 12 that it would begin the investigation after morning and afternoon storms that day left more than 90,000 customers without power. On July 29, following a storm that left more than 200,000 residents without power, we at the Montgomery County Council unanimously sent a letter to the Public Service Commission asking for just such an investigation.

On Aug. 14, I spoke with Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley and told him that the continual series of outages year-round in Montgomery County has made establishing more reliable electric service from the utility a top priority.

We know that sudden winter and summer storms are not always predictable, but having a more reliable system established so we are not paralyzed by these events—and having a better system of response and communication with residents when they do occur—are things that must be addressed. After each of these events, we hear from Pepco about their challenges in delivering better service. Now it is time we hear a plan on what they are going to do to help prevent these problems.

Our letter of July 29 asking for an investigation cited many of the same concerns the PSC identified in deciding to act. In our letter, we wrote: “We are writing to ask the Commission to open an investigation into the reliability of electricity in Pepco’s Montgomery County’s service territory. Our residents and businesses have suffered an unacceptable number and duration of outages for many years, outages that have harmed public health, public safety and the County’s economy. As a distribution-only utility, the quality and reliability of Pepco’s service is exclusively within your authority. We ask you to invoke that authority to ensure our citizens of acceptable levels of reliability.”

Public Service Commission Investigating Pepco

The Maryland Public Service Commission has launched an investigation into Pepco's reliability problems. The Commission has ordered that Pepco management appear for a public hearing at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, August 17. The hearing will be broadcast on the PSC Web site.

I, along with all the members of the County Council, have been hearing from frustrated residents and business owners, particularly as power outages have stretched into days. I have been frustrated, too, as my house is dark right now and was out of power for four days after the big storm. While I recognize that Montgomery County presents an especially challenging problem for utilities because we have some of the densest tree cover in the nation (and we love our trees!), I can't help but wonder if there is a better way. That's why we sent a letter, signed by every member of the Council, to the Public Service Commission asking for the state agency's assistance. I’m glad to see the PSC’s quick response.

Food Safety During Prolonged Power Outage

Montgomery County Health Officer Dr. Ulder J. Tillman today urged residents who remain without power to take steps to ensure that food left in the refrigerator and freezer is safe.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service, meat, poultry, fish and eggs should be refrigerated at 40° F and frozen food at or below 0° F, which may be difficult with a prolonged power outage.

• Keep the refrigerator and freezer doors closed as much as possible to maintain the cold temperature. A refrigerator will only keep food safely cold for about four hours if it is unopened.
• A full freezer will hold the temperature for approximately 48 hours (24 hours if it is half full) if the door remains closed.
• Obtain dry ice or block ice to keep your refrigerator as cold as possible if there is a prolonged power outage. Residents should check with local retailers for ice supplies.
• Digital, dial or instant-read thermometers and appliance thermometers will help determine if the food is at safe temperatures. The refrigerator temperature should be at 40°F or below; the freezer, 0°or lower.
• To be sure a particular food is cold enough; take its temperature with a food thermometer.
• Never taste food to determine its safety!
• Food may be safely refrozen if the food still contains ice crystal or is at 40°F or below. Evaluate each food item separately. Be sure to discard any items in either the freezer or the refrigerator that have come into contact with raw meat juices.
• Food such as meat, poultry, fish, eggs, milk, soft cheeses, butter and leftover cooked meats, casseroles and pizza should be thrown out if they have been held above 40° F for over two hours.
  
  For a complete chart and when to save and when to throw out certain foods, please visit the USDA’s food safety website.