Pepco Robocalls Customers At All Hours

Here's a somewhat disturbing report from a Pepco customer in Chevy Chase (excerpted from a post on the Chevy Chase Community Listserv):

I am writing as a warning to be cautious about calling in a power outage to Pepco. My wife called Pepco on Thursday afternoon at about 2 PM to report an outage. The power came back in 20 minutes later, so she thought all was well. One would think that Pepco would know that their service had resumed and let us know. A frequent question: don't Smart Meters tell Pepco this?
Ten hours later, at about 1:15 AM, we were rudely awakened from sleep by a robo-call giving us the good news that the power was back on. A human might realize that calling at that hour should be limited to essential information; the robo-caller apparently knows no such boundaries.

Anyone know if there is a way to cancel a "no power" notice to shut down such an ignorant Pepco robo-caller?

Pepco to Replace Live Trees with Storm-Proof Artificial Trees to Prevent Power Outages

The Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) announced today that it will be planting artificial, storm-proof trees throughout the District of Columbia and Montgomery County. According to Pepco, these artificial trees will be able to withstand heavy snowfalls, ice storms, and winds of up to 100 miles per hour. “We’re excited about the storm-proof tree initiative,” said Pepco’s arborist, Mary Conti. “These trees, which are composed of carbon nanofibers, are able to hold up against just about anything that nature can whip up. Replacing living trees with artificial trees will dramatically reduce the number of power outages in the Washington, DC area.”

Pepco plans to initially replace some 4,500 living trees with artificial trees. “None of these real trees has a life expectancy of more than 20 years,” Conti said. “Compare that to the Pepco trees that will last for at least a century.” The 4,500 trees that Pepco has targeted for replacement either intersect or overhang power lines. That alone should reduce the power outage rate by 75 percent, Pepco says. Eventually, Pepco plans to replace approximately 15,000 trees with these modern, indestructible artificial trees.

Pepco’s artificial tree project is in response to customer’s requests to have more reliable electricity.

Pepco, which already has considerable experience at cutting down trees, expects that it will take approximately eight months to replace the first batch of 4,500 trees. “When the next snowpocalypse strikes, we’ll just laugh at it,” Conti said.

Pepco pointed out that area residents will be impressed, even wowed, by these artificial trees, because they were created by the award-winning Italian design firm FioreNuovo. “We think that people will like our Pepco trees even more than actual trees,” Conti said.

Each tree will have three openings that lead to spacious hollows inside for squirrels, raccoons, birds and other critters to establish homes. “These are not just beautiful, but eco-friendly trees. I know that the squirrels will be very happy.” The upper leaves on the trees can be replaced with solar-cell coated leaves at a future date so that not only will we have fewer power outages, but the Pepco trees will actually generate more energy. “An ordinary tree can’t make electricity,” Conti pointed out. “Our trees are better than nature.”

The cut-down trees will be turned into firewood and given away to needy families, Pepco said.

There's more information about this on our companion email list, the Cleveland Park Listserv.

Panel Explains New "Smart Meters" on March 30

 

What happens when the reliability of electrical service is uncertain and what happens when new technology is introduced by utility companies? In 2011, AARP DC will take up these issues by exploring solutions to improve reliability, providing information on smart meter installation and operation, and giving DC residents the opportunity to raise concerns.

What:  Reliable Electric Service and Smart Meters
Who:  Panelists representing AARP, Office of the Peoples Counsel, Pepco, and the Public Service
Commission
When:  March 30 from 6:00 - 7:30pm
Where:  Tenleytown Library, 4450 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, Washington, DC

All DC residents are invited. Light refreshments will be served.

Public Meeting on Pepco's "Smart Meter" Plans on March 16

Throughout the spring and summer Pepco will be installing "smart meters" in northwest DC.  According to Pepco, the new meters will substantially improve the reliability of electrical service metering.

ANC 3-C (Cleveland Park/Woodley Park) is holding a public meeting, featuring  a presentation on smart meters by representatives of Pepco, as well as short presentations from the DC Office of the People's Council, and the DC Public Service Commission.  The main issues under consideration will be the state of the electricity retail industry in DC, the feasibility of putting power lines underground, and the choices available to  DC consumers of electric power.

Come and find out how Pepco's smart meters will affect price and power usage in your home and in this area.  There will be an opportunity for questions from the audience.

What:  Pepco Smart Meter Panel Meeting Sponsored by ANC 3-C

When:  Wednesday, March 16th, 7PM to 8:30PM
Where:  Metropolitan Police 2D Community Room, 3320 Idaho Ave., NW

More information about the meeting is available on ANC 3-C's website.  The DC Public Service Commission's website also has information on options available to DC consumers of electric power.  If you would like more information about the complexities of putting power lines underground, you may want to watch this video, available on the Public Service Commission's website; you can find a cost analysis of putting power lines underground versus aggressively pruning trees by clicking on this link. [Note: Video starts playing instantly upon activation of the link; the cost-analysis link opens a PDF document.]

One Thumb Up for Pepco

Pepco's been getting a lot of flak lately because of widespread and prolonged power outages. We'll leave the question of whether or not Pepco deserves this criticism, other than to note a Washington Post article from yesterday which reported, "A Washington Post investigation published last month found that Pepco's day-to-day reliability began declining five years ago and that Pepco ranks at or near the bottom in industry surveys of reliability. The average Pepco customer experienced 70 percent more outages than customers of other big-city utilities that took part in one 2009 survey."

We've called for burying power lines to make DC's electrical grid more reliable, but never mind. Here's what one American University Park resident reported about Pepco on the Communit-E email  list:

I ask you sheath the long knives for Pepco after you hear my story. A Pepco employee in a van was checking our street for tree limbs on wires and some such.  He knocked on my door to tell me the bracket holding my electrical wire had pulled away from the house and could come down.  He said, of course, it may take time to get a crew out.  Well I called anyway at about noon.  Hoped to get a crew by Tuesday.  At about 4 pm three contract guys show up.  They made a partial repair due to lack of a long enough ladder.  And promised to get Pepco out to finish the repair.  I will have to say I was floored and hope they get a gold star.  I suspect from their accents they came from West VA.  God love 'em.

Still Life With Robin: Blackout Lessons

by Peggy Robin

Last Friday much of Cleveland Park was in blackout, which meant I had from 11am that day until 5am on Saturday* to mull over what happened and think up ways that could be used to improve the situation next time around.**

* 1:  Okay, I was asleep a lot of that time, but I think I was still dreaming of solutions at least some of the time. And when the lights blazed back on at 5am, you can bet I was thinking #13 on the list.

** 2: Yes, there will be a next time, unless we successfully push for “undergrounding” our power lines.  If we think Washington is a world-class city, then I say it’s time to do as other world-class cities have done and get started on this long-term project.  End of editorial.

Once the blackout was over, I compiled my musings into a list.  It’s neither a Letterman-style backwards list nor a top-to-bottom list, which is to say, it’s in no particular order.

1.  Battery backups are worse than useless if they beep continuously to let you know the power is out.  We already know the power is out.  All the beeping does is force us to turn the backup off to save our sanity.

2.  Humdrum appliances like coffeemakers and toaster ovens have no business acting like clocks. It’s just another setting to be restored once the power’s back on.  From now on I will boycott any clock-infested appliance unless the device is one of those self-setting atomic clocks that never needs to be adjusted.

Cleveland Park Day a Hit--Especially on a Day When Your Power Is Restored

Balloon fun with the Clowning Kopffs

In what we can only hope will be the beginning of a long-running annual tradition, Cleveland Park Day on Saturday turned out to be a fine event for the whole family, just as promised, fair weather and all.. 

A big thank you to all the organizers, volunteers, participants, visitors, and charmingly well-behaved kids and pets who made the day possible -- with a special shout-out to the DC Fire Department, who not only successfully maneuvered one of their biggest hook-and-ladder trucks through the narrow driveway of the Park 'n' Shop to show off their equipment to local kids, but who also did a magnificent job on Friday cordoning off the downed wires and protecting residents in the immediate aftermath of the fallen tree on Newark that caused the outage.

NW DC Power Outage Continues; 34th Street Closed in Cleveland Park

Truck carrying new power line poles for Newark Street

Update: 5:00am  Power was restored at 5am. There was a certain irony about working on a netbook using a cellular modem under candlelight. RCN Internet is still out in parts of NW DC, as of 10:00am Saturday.

Update: 5:50pm  The Cleveland Park power outage continues. A major north-south road, 34th Street, is closed between Macomb Street and Ordway Street, NW.

It was single tree that cut power to thousands. When this one tree fell onto a power line, it pulled on the power lines up and down Newark Street and a little beyond.

Pepco crews are working to restore power in the area.  Pepco has to replace not just the power lines, but the poles as well.  RCN Internet is also still out in the area.

34th St. closed in Cleveland Park

Poll: Should the Power LInes Go Underground?

We all have experienced it at least once (and most of us, multiple times):  A storm blows through, leaving thousands without power, sometimes for days at a time.  As you sit in your candle-lit house waiting for the overworked Pepco crews to put you back on the grid,  you think to yourself, “Why don’t they just put the damn lines underground?”  But is that really practical?  How much will it cost? Could there still be power outages anyway?

Should We Put Power Lines Underground?

I'm optimistic. It took decades for the District of Columbia to force taxicabs to install meters and turn on air conditioning in the summer.

The call for burying power lines in the District has been going on for nearly as long. There are two main arguments for putting power lines underground: They'll make the streetscape more attractive (there's no denying that power lines are ugly), and burying power lines will make them less vulnerable to storms. We know how the equation goes: major thunderstorm or ice storm = tens of thousands of people without power. Every time.

The argument against burying power lines has to do with economics:  It's expensive, says Pepco. Expensive to put the lines under ground in the first place and expensive to maintain them. (Somehow even cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco that have other problems, such as earthquakes, seem to manage.)

Putting power lines underground would end Pepco's war on trees. It might also mean that you need to rely less on a battery backup.