Invitation to Speak at Public Hearing on Pepco Operations and Electricity Reliability

INVITATION

Public Hearing on Pepco Operations and Electricity Reliability

Monday, August 30, 2010

Montgomery County Council Office Building

100 Maryland Avenue

Rockville, MD 20852

I share your concerns about the reliability of the electricity system in Montgomery County. Too frequently, Montgomery County residents have had to suffer through extended interruptions in electric service, with serious impacts on public safety, public health, business operations, and their residential quality of life. At a recent Council hearing on these issues, I was astonished to learn that Pepco had not taken any remedial steps to improve system reliability following the devastating winter storms of earlier this year. This was an important opportunity to assess system weaknesses and to enhance energy security for our County. The fact that there were no ‘lessons learned’ and no remedial steps taken is inexcusable and demands investigation by the Maryland Public Service Commission.

On Monday, August 30, 2010, you are invited to attend and to share your concerns about the reliability of PEPCO’s electricity distribution reliability at a Public Hearing that will be held in the Council Office Building in Rockville.

The Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) is continuing its investigation into “the reliability of Potomac Electric Power Company’s (Pepco) electric distribution system and the quality of electric distribution service that Pepco is providing its customers” by holding a public hearing at the Montgomery County Council’s Stella Werner Office Building in Rockville at 6 p.m. on Monday, Aug. 30.

The public hearing will be held in the third floor hearing room of the Council Office Building at 100 Maryland Ave. Elected officials who wish to speak should contact the PSC’s director of legislative affairs by Aug. 27.

If you wish to speak at the hearing, you must sign in at the hearing room starting at 5:30 p.m. Speakers will be limited to a maximum of five minutes. All attending must bring photo identification to enter the hearing room.

Written comments may be filed by Aug. 31. Originally signed comments on paper may be submitted to Terry J. Romine, Executive Secretary, Maryland Public Service Commission, William Donald Schaefer Tower, 6 St. Paul Street, 16th Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202. Comments must reference “Case No. 9240—Public Comment.” To ensure comments are entered into the PSC docket system, all comments must be mailed or hand-delivered. Comments sent via e-mail or fax will not be entered into the Commission’s docket system.

The public hearing will be televised live by County Cable Montgomery (CCM—Cable Channel 6 on Comcast and RCN, Channel 30 on Verizon). The broadcast also can be viewed via streaming through the County Web site at http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/.

This is an important valuable opportunity for you to express your views and opinions to the County Council about Pepco's operations and reliability. Your attendance and participation will help our efforts immeasurably.