In support of its outrageous demand to the D.C. Public Service Commission for an annual rate hike of $51.7 million, Pepco—the District of Columbia’s monopoly distributor of electricity—cites the current economic crisis as necessitating its proposal:

“While financial strength has always been important to utilities, it is even more so now, with the ongoing crisis in world credit markets. Pepco will continue to need access to large amounts of capital to meet its responsibility to customers. Sources of capital traditionally available to Pepco have become more costly, far more difficult to access, and in some cases unavailable at any price.” ⁱ

Pepco Holdings, Inc. is the parent holding company of Pepco, as well as Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric. These subsidiaries are also demanding annual rate hikes in Delaware and New Jersey for $54 million and $28 million, respectively. Pepco plans to file for a rate hike in Maryland later this year.

Is this because the multibillion dollar corporation is suffering financially? Not at all!

In Pepco Holding’s 2008 Annual Report to Shareholders, President and CEO Joseph Rigby wrote to shareholders, “2008 marked a year of strong financial results … Excluding special items, earnings amounted to $334 million, or $1.93 per share, compared to $296 million, or $1.53 per share in 2007. ” ⁱⁱ

In Pepco Holdings’s third quarter 2009 earnings conference call, Rigby assured Credit Suisse, “The need for $250 million of new money is extremely manageable.”

And that’s not all.  Pepco Holdings is receiving $168 million in federal stimulus money, and filing for a federal income tax refund of $138 million.

Pepco’s proposed $51.7 million rate hike in the District of Columbia is all about its insatiable hunger for more profit for investors. It has nothing to do with serving the people of D.C. with fair and reliable service.

Sign up to join our campaign to oppose Pepco’s $51.7 million rate hike, demand an immediate moratorium on shutoffs, and a 50 percent rollback in rates.

ⁱ Application of Potomac Electric Power Company, PSC Formal Case Filing No. 1076-E-1 at 6.
ⁱⁱ Pepco Holdings, Inc., “Letter to Shareholders,” 2008 Annual Report to Shareholders, p. iii.