My name is Sarah Sloan and I'm here testifying on behalf of a grassroots, DC metro area organization called JF. We have a campaign called Power for the People, which is grounded in the basic principle that utilities are a right and our campaign is demanding a 50% rollback in rates and a moratorium on all shutoffs.

I've been here for the past five hours listening to testimony and holding a sign that says "no more profit for Pepco until the problem is fixed."

Before I get into the heart of my testimony, I need to first object to the format of this hearing. I was here with several of my colleagues, none of whose names have been called yet, all of whom had to leave. One of my colleagues spent two hours by bus coming here from Gaithersburg. She gets up at 5 o'clock in the morning to commute from Gaithersburg into the District where she's a public school worker. She could not stay here until the middle of the night waiting for her name to be called. So the fact that the first two hours of this hearing was devoted to elected officials who really don't lack opportunities to have their voice heard I find very objectionable. As many others have stated, if the elected officials are to be given time at these hearings the order should be reversed, they should be forced to listen to ordinary people testify and ordinary people who have to get up early for work in the morning should not be deprived of their voice at these hearings because they have to wait until the middle of the night.

Now we are here to say that we consider there to be no justifications for Pepco's lack of preparedness, which as we've heard from many people left hundreds of thousands without power not for hours, not for a day, but in many cases for many days on end. And now Pepco is saying it's going to take them five years and $256.3 million dollars to improve quality and reliability of service. When questioned, the senior vice president of Pepco, Mike Sullivan, as to whether he was disappointed in Pepco's response he said: "I think we did a reasonable job of restoring power. I am not embarrassed by what we did."

But of course they should be embarrassed, they should be embarrassed by all of the stories that have been heard tonight, and the many stories that were not heard, that have not been told by residents throughout Montgomery County, the rest of Maryland and the DC area.

For the past five years, Pepco has demanded and has received a doubling of rates while the people in Maryland and the DC area have had to pay. Undoubtedly there's more rate hikes on the horizon and we believe that the next time Pepco comes to the Public Service Commission requesting a rate hike they should be denied entirely. There should not be any more rate hikes.

Pepco's profits right now are at an all-time high. Pepco holdings moved from being 279 on the Fortune 500 list in 2008 to being 254 in 2009. Its biggest investors, which include the biggest banks, are making money hand over fist. In 2009, Pepco Holdings made $10.7 billion in revenue. They made $300 million in profit. They had assets worth $16.5 billion, a market value of over $2.85 billion and almost $4.2 billion in stockholder equity.

Pepco's executives and its board of directors receive obscene levels of payment. The Pepco Holdings CEO and President Joseph Rigby received compensation in 2009 that exceeded $3 million. The former CEO Dennis Wraase in 2008 received compensation exceeding $9 million. That's almost $25,000 every single day when many Pepco customers have to choose between paying their utility bills and paying their rent and buying food and paying for public transportation.

Not one more penny of profit should go to pay dividends to shareholders, should go to pay these huge management salaries until the scandalous failures of Pepco are corrected. The cost of improving electricity quality and reliability of service should be at Pepco's feet not at the feet of the customers.

My name is Sarah Sloan and I'm here testifying on behalf of a grassroots, DC metro area organization called Justice First. We have a campaign called Power for the People, which is grounded in the basic principle that utilities are a right and our campaign is demanding a 50 percent rollback in rates and a moratorium on all shutoffs.

I've been here for the past five hours listening to testimony and holding a sign that says "no more profit for Pepco until the problem is fixed."

Before I get into the heart of my testimony, I need to first object to the format of this hearing. I was here with several of my colleagues, none of whose names have been called yet, all of whom had to leave. One of my colleagues spent two hours by bus coming here from Gaithersburg. She gets up at 5 o'clock in the morning to commute from Gaithersburg into the District where she's a public school worker. She could not stay here until the middle of the night waiting for her name to be called. So the fact that the first two hours of this hearing was devoted to elected officials who really don't lack opportunities to have their voice heard I find very objectionable. As many others have stated, if the elected officials are to be given time at these hearings the order should be reversed, they should be forced to listen to ordinary people testify and ordinary people who have to get up early for work in the morning should not be deprived of their voice at these hearings because they have to wait until the middle of the night.

Now we are here to say that we consider there to be no justifications for Pepco's lack of preparedness, which as we've heard from many people left hundreds of thousands without power not for hours, not for a day, but in many cases for many days on end. And now Pepco is saying it's going to take them five years and $256.3 million dollars to improve quality and reliability of service. When questioned, the senior vice president of Pepco, Mike Sullivan, as to whether he was disappointed in Pepco's response he said: "I think we did a reasonable job of restoring power. I am not embarrassed by what we did."

But of course they should be embarrassed, they should be embarrassed by all of the stories that have been heard tonight, and the many stories that were not heard, that have not been told by residents throughout Montgomery County, the rest of Maryland and the DC area.

For the past five years, Pepco has demanded and has received a doubling of rates while the people in Maryland and the DC area have had to pay. Undoubtedly there's more rate hikes on the horizon and we believe that the next time Pepco comes to the Public Service Commission requesting a rate hike they should be denied entirely. There should not be any more rate hikes.

Pepco's profits right now are at an all-time high. Pepco holdings moved from being 279 on the Fortune 500 list in 2008 to being 254 in 2009. It's biggest investors, which include the biggest banks, are making money hand over fist. In 2009, Pepco Holdings made $10.7 billion in revenue. They made $300 million in profit. They had assets worth $16.5 billion, a market value of over $2.85 billion and almost $4.2 billion in stockholder equity.

Pepco's executives and its board of directors receive obscene levels of payment. The Pepco Holdings CEO and President Joseph Rigby received compensation in 2009 that exceeded $3 million. The former CEO Dennis Wrasse in 2008 received compensation exceeding $9 million. That's almost $25,000 every single day when many Pepco customers have to choose between paying their utility bills and paying their rent and buying food and paying for public transportation.

Not one more penny of profit should go to pay dividends to shareholders, should go to pay these huge management salaries until the scandalous failures of Pepco are corrected. The cost of improving electricity quality and reliability of service should be at Pepco's feet not at the feet of the customers.