Reply to How we got PEPCO to Improve our Electrical Service

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[quote=jsteele]There is obviously a lot of justified frustration with PEPCO among our users. A few years ago, our neighborhood was served by the least reliable electrical feeder line in the entire region (according to PEPCO's data). If someone sneezed, we lost power. After Hurricane Isabel, we went several days without power. So, I understand the frustration better than many. But, as a result of PEPCO improvements to our lines, we survived both the snow storm of 2010 (Snowmageddon) and this storm without losing power. Here is what it took to make this happen. Hopefully, some of you can get the same sort of improvements.

First, we organized through our neighborhood association to bring our concerns to PEPCO and our elected officials. Neighborhood residents collected data on even the shortest electrical blip. This data was kept in a spreadsheet so that when we discussed the issue, we could cite time, date, and length of outage. We normally had better data then PEPCO. With the support of our Council Member, we met with PEPCO. At first, these meetings were simply opportunities for PEPCO to tell us how much they shared our pain and to assure us that they wanted to give us better service. But, PEPCO faced a long list of hurdles that sadly, they just couldn't overcome. We were supposed to feel good that they cared. PEPCO planned a list of improvements. Let's call this the low budget approach. They did the bare minimum to show that they were trying.

The low budget approach failed. Luckily for us, our Council Member became chair of the Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs which gave her a lot of influence with PEPCO. She asked them take a more serious approach. Keep in mind that our neighborhood organization had kept the pressure on both her and PEPCO and made sure both were aware that the low budget approach was not satisfactory. So, PEPCO launched a multi-phased approach that involved the following:

1) Replace 1,500 ft. of primary wire
2) Replace 5 poles
3) Replace 20 transformers
4) Replace 13 cross arms
5) Install 3 switches
6) Install 1 recloser
7) Tree trimming

The most important of these -- in my opinion -- was the first. The replacement wire was "hurricane cable" (this is what I remember, I could be wrong about the name). This is well-insulated cable that can withstand squirrels and tree branch strikes and even continue working if the entire cable falls. They repeated this sort of thing for three parts of the feeder, finishing just before Snowmageddon. Our experience then and now is that these improvements resulted in a high level of service.

Everyone seems to think that under grounding the cables is the best solution. Maybe it is, I'm not an expert. But, that seems like a non-starter due to the expense. What I am trying to point out is that PEPCO can take steps short of that to give much better service. However, they don't just step up and do these. They still cost money. PEPCO didn't try the more expensive approach until the low budget approach failed. That seemed like an unnecessary waste of time. I would encourage those of you who are suffering poor service to organize and demand the higher cost solution outlined above. PEPCO will have to be dragged kicking and screaming, but don't take "no" for an answer.
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