ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) — Maryland Rep. Chris Van Hollen says Pepco should not receive a 4 percent rate increase until the utility makes meaningful progress on reliability.
Van Hollen made the recommendation Thursday, a day before a deadline for the Maryland Public Service Commission to decide on the increase.
The congressman says ratepayers should not be forced to compensate Pepco for power they never received because of the storm that hit Maryland on June 29.
Van Hollen also notes in an analysis conducted by his office that Dominion Power, of northern Virginia, had more than double the number of outages as Pepco at the start of the restoration effort on the Friday night of the storm. However, Pepco and Dominion had about the same number of customers who were without power the Monday after.
(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
