Pepco Will Lobby 'Til The Lights Come On: But it won't actually turn the lights on itself. HuffPo D.C. reports: "The power company, fined $1 million by the Maryland Public Service Commission in December for its unreliable service, paid $3.8 million in lobbying expenses while paying negative $508 million in taxes, according to the report." . [...]
The Power Of Pepco: Next time the lights go off during a thunderstorm, and you grumble about the rates you're paying for electricity, just remember they could be higher, if Pepco wasn't getting so much money back from the feds. Turns out the company paid an effective federal tax rate of -57 percent over the [...]
With Hurricane Irene on its way and the District under a tropical storm warning, Pepco has been making robocalls to power customers around D.C., warning that power will probably go out and stay out for a while.
"We strongly urge you to prepare now for the very real possibility of power outages this weekend," the calls [...]
The Snakeheads Are Coming: When snakehead fish first appeared in Maryland a few years back, it was easy enough to be amused at the prospect of land-borne invasive fish, at least if you didn't live near Crofton, where they were first spotted; the whole thing sounded like a horror movie concept that didn't quite make [...]
Unsafe At Any Speed: The Post has been covering Twitter reaction to the story of the Beltway driver who allegedly hit a taxi while having having drunken sex and cruising along at 85 mph since the trial got underway. So it was probably inevitable that the defendant would wind up tweeting, too. But that defendant, Salem [...]
Government Shutdown, the Old-Fashioned Way: Forget budget standoffs or terrorist attacks; the surest way to close the federal government, apparently, is to run offices on electricity provided by Pepco. A power outage that started yesterday continued today, affecting nine District agencies and several federal ones, including the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Prediction: New regulations coming [...]
Jessica Castro, a restaurant server who moved to the District last June, has always thought of her Shaw neighborhood apartment as a residence. Pepco doesn’t seem to think so.
Castro’s place sits above two floors of offices, so the electric company says it is classified as "non-residential."
This might be a minor technicality if that status didn't [...]
As mad as some of you might be after Pepco’s recent missteps restoring power following the Jan. 26 thundersnow event, don’t worry: some members of the D.C. Council would like you to know they are even more angry.
Speaking at public hearing of the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs late Friday afternoon, several councilmembers [...]
Dan Snyder Sues: Every day since last summer, The Needle has brought you a status report on the District's quality of life around this time of day. Unfortunately, yesterday, we weren't able to publish one—in part because our site was struggling to deal with all the traffic we were getting, and in part because we [...]
Power to the People: Wednesday night's snowstorm took out electricity to so many Pepco customers that the utility's outage maps weren't even working most of the day today. Turns out there may be a good reason why: Pepco didn't request extra help keeping power on until hours after most other area companies had done so. [...]
Updated below.
Dispatch from a Silver Spring source, who lives right over the D.C. line and still doesn't have power: "Pepco sucks ass. Forty-four hours with no power and no relief in sight. I was so fucking angry I left my home at 12:30 after midnight to drive the streets looking for a Pepco truck. I [...]
SnOMG!: The first snowflakes of the season fell in a flurry early this morning, causing mass hysteria on Twitter and, we're sure, prompting every local TV news crew in the region to camp out at grocery stores to get B-roll of people buying milk, bread, and toilet paper. Anyone who spent most of February shoveling [...]
So Long, and Thanks for All the Bike Lanes: It was revolving door day at the Wilson Building. DDOT Director Gabe Klein, a favorite of the smart growth set, departed in the morning, along with DCRA ; by the afternoon, the big news was the appointment of Allen Lew as city administrator and Gerri Mason [...]
Banned in D.C.: Yes, we used the same Bad Brains song title as a headline on a previous Needle item about the National Portrait Gallery. But now it's even more appropriate, as the Metropolitan Police Department told two protesters arrested at the museum on Saturday that they were forbidden to set foot in any Smithsonian [...]
Power to the People: Frustrated by the frequent power outages that have plagued Howard Kurtz's home (and possibly yours, too)? Pepco has finally found a solution—spend $256 million trimming tree limbs. And voilà: a reliable supply of electricity. After, uh, a five-year wait to implement the plan. Potentially faster solution—go solar. -2
Jobs, Jobs, Jobs: Labor [...]
