Pepco Will Not Appeal $1 Million Outage Fine

Power company fined for subjecting customers to long outages too often

Pepco says the $1 million fine imposed by The Maryland Public Service Commission for long outages in 2010 was harsh, but the company will not appeal the decision.

The power company was fined Wednesday for failing to maintain its system properly over a period of years and subjecting customers to long outages too often. The commission began looking at Pepco's outages after thunderstorms in July and August 2010 knocked out power and resulted in a high number of complaints.

"I think they kind of had [the fine] coming," one customer told NBC4's Jackie Bensen.

Pepo says it has been working to improve reliability by trimming trees, upgrading technology and replacing underground cable. The company has also improved the way it estimates power restoration times.

Pepco provides power to approximately 800,000 customers in Washington as well as Montgomery and Prince George's County in Maryland.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
Contact Us