More than a year after former Maryland Delegate Al Carr (D-18) asked the Public Service Commission to make Pepco improve its street lighting repairs and billing system, his formal complaint is finally moving forward.
According to Carr, Pepco incorrectly bills Montgomery and Prince George’s counties and their municipalities.
Also, Carr charged, the utility is slow to repair streetlights and has “errors and omissions” on its online outage maps, making it difficult to report broken or unclean streetlights. Because of that, some streets are dark and could be dangerous, he said.
Carr filed a formal complaint in October of 2022 that caused the commission to conduct an investigation. During its preliminary investigation, a staff member recently testified, “Pepco has failed to address the deficiencies of the streetlight outages reporting map and failed to meet its internal goal of completing 90% of streetlight repairs within five business days.”
The matter now rests in the lap of a Public Service Commission’s law judge. “The judge will make a decision in the case. It’s going to unfold over the next few weeks and months, but the staff has been convinced” that the issues Carr and other state and municipal leaders pointed out have merit, Carr said.
“The process is not a fast one. it would be nice if things move faster, but it’s going forward,” he said.
A quick response would be appreciated, because Carr fears that while some municipal governments may find out they overpaid for the energy and maintenance of streetlights, others may have underpaid and could receive a large, unexpected bill.
Repairing and keeping streetlights bright “is not complicated. It’s mainly changing bulbs, but Pepco has not been able to keep up,” Carr said. “For a relatively simple task, Pepco has fallen behind.”
There are more than 100,000 streetlights on local roads throughout Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, many of which are owned and maintained by Pepco.
In Montgomery County, there are 28,021 utility-owned streetlights and 25,475 owned by the governments, creating an annual street light expenditure of about $9 million.
Gaithersburg has 507 streetlights owned by utilities and 3,559 owned by its government, for an annual expense of about $700,000. Rockville has 2,700 streetlights that are utility owned and 3,200 that are government owned for an annual expense of about $850,000.
Related Post
46 Legislators Urge Pepco to Convert to Energy Efficient Street Lighting
