D.C. residents blasted the commission that oversees utility companies operating in the District on Friday following months of increased energy costs.
Over 90 people were scheduled to speak in front of D.C. Council member Charles Allen as part of a performance oversight hearing for the Public Service Commission (PSC).
Allen said the goal of the hearing was to see how the commission was working to complete its stated goal of ensuring every public utility doing business in the District is providing “safe and adequate service” and reasonable charges that are “just and nondiscriminatory.”
For many residents who spoke, the commission isn’t doing enough. As the three commissioners listened to the hearing online, Ward 6 resident Dina Rodriguez directed her testimony toward them, saying they acted “selfishly, short sightedly.”
“You have not kept utility rates affordable, you have not aided in the improvement of public transportation or public infrastructure,” Rodriguez said. “And you have in no way upheld the District’s climate commitments.”
Most who spoke detailed the horror of seeing their recent electrical or gas bills.
Ward 5 ANC Commissioner Dyanna Weston said she nearly fell out of her chair after reading the bill from the electric company, calling it a “Debtco statement.”
She added that multiple residents in her ward complained to their landlords about energy bills, only to learn that the increases came directly from Pepco.
“I have constituents about to get put out because they can’t pay the bill,” she said. “Calls are coming in left and right. I’m just like, ‘we need to help.’ Something has to happen.”
Pressing PSC on accountability
Prior to the hearing, Whitney Douglas, a spokesperson with the Public Service Commission, told WTOP it regulates distribution charges, which make up about one third of the bill. Most of the cost comes from supply charges.
In 2024, the commission approved a multiyear rate plan with Pepco that established increases for 2025 and 2026. In a February news release, Pepco cited extreme winter weather in D.C. for the price increases, due to higher heating demands.
Ward 1 resident Bethany Costello said the PSC’s lack of speed to address any rising energy costs is glaring. While the entire country is dealing with similar increases, each state must factor in different jurisdictions and geography, she said.
“Our PSC only manages our city, compared to most other equivalent agencies that are managing utility grids of multiple utilities across an entire state, tons of different jurisdictions with lots of different varying geography, etc. We are only managing the utilities of this one city, which feels like it should be, theoretically, a more manageable job,” she said.
Allen said the current structure for the agency will need to be reviewed. To hold commissioners accountable, he said that it will be important to make sure that the commission is “statutorily set up” to be as proactive as some would like it to be.
“Is the PSC supposed to be a receiving entity, just kind of calling balls and strikes as a proposal comes to them. Is that how they view the job, or is their job to be really driving the ship?” Allen said. “I really trying to think through setting out where our direction should be as a city.”
Two bills were introduced in mid-February to reappoint two of the three commissions, Ted Trabue Jr. and Emile Thompson, back to their roles.
Mark Rodeffer, with the Sierra Club’s D.C. chapter, said both should not return for voting for rate hikes and not pushing for stopping the use of fossil fuels.
He cited the drastic 93% in electricity costs in D.C. from 2020 to 2025, the highest in the nation, and the commissioners’ vote on an electric rate hike 2024 without a prior evaluation.
“If the council wants another four years of skyrocketing utility bills, you should confirm Emile Thompson and Ted Trabue,” Rodeffer said. “If the D.C. Council wants a new direction at the Public Service Commission, new leadership is required.”
Allen said a public hearing with the commissioners is scheduled for March 5 at 11:30 a.m.
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