Pepco Reduces Frequency Of Outages By 68 Percent Over Past Decade

WASHINGTON, DC — Pepco, an electric utility company previously known for substandard system reliability in its D.C. and Maryland service territories, said customers are now benefiting from the company’s tree-trimming and vegetation management practices.

Given the growing threats from severe weather and powerful storms driven by climate change, the company said tree-trimming and vegetation management work is a critical component of Pepco’s efforts to continue to provide its customers with reliable electric power service.

Since 2011, when Pepco was under intense scrutiny for the number and length of power outages, the frequency of outages experienced by customers caused by trees and other vegetation has decreased by 76 percent, the company said in a news release Tuesday.

In 2012, utility regulators in Maryland rejected most of a Pepco rate increase request, citing the company’s history of substandard performance. The Maryland Public Service Commission called it backwards to increase Pepco’s profits for its shareholders before the utility company improved its power system reliability.

A year earlier, Maryland regulators fined the company, which serves about 894,000 customers in the District of Columbia and Maryland, for its poor electric reliability performance.

Pepco started to take measures to improve its system reliability in response to the orders issued by the regulators. The company was then acquired by Chicago-based Exelon in 2016.

“Due to this work, Pepco customers across Washington D.C. and Maryland experienced the lowest frequency of electric outages ever in 2020,” the company said Tuesday. “Over the past ten years, energy system upgrades and new innovative technologies have reduced the frequency of electric outages by 68 percent for Pepco customers and communities. Customers experienced less than one outage, on average, over the course of the year and even when service was interrupted, crews were able to safely restore service in just 87 minutes, on average, in 2020.”

Pepco said its customers will continue to benefit from the company’s ongoing effort to trim trees and remove vegetation along about 1,330 miles of aerial power lines in 2021. The work will continue through the year.

Trees coming in contact with electric infrastructure and wires cause about 24 percent of power outages for customers each year across the company’s entire service area, the company said.

When pruning trees to provide clearance from overhead equipment, Pepco said it uses directional pruning techniques, whenever possible, to help direct tree growth away from equipment while also maintaining the health of the vegetation.

RELATED: Pepco Energy Efficiency Plan To Increase Customers' Monthly Bills