Pepco Files Study with the DC Public Service Commission on

Feasibility of Electrification to Support

District's Clean Energy DC Climate and Clean Energy Plan

Study presents electrification as a pathway to achieving the District's decarbonization goals

WASHINGTON, D.C. (August 27, 2021) – Pepco today filed a study with the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia (DCPSC) assessing the impacts of a large-scale electrification effort on the Pepco DC electric distribution system. Pepco commissioned the study as part of the company's plan to advance a smarter, stronger and cleaner energy system and to help the District achieve its leading climate goals. This filing also builds on significant work by the DCPSC, District stakeholders and Pepco, to help meet the District's decarbonization goals.

"This study is a critical step as we develop our plans outlining the services, technologies and programs that we know will be essential to helping the District meet its clean energy and climate goals, equitably, inclusively and affordably" said Donna Cooper, Pepco region president. "Electrifying transportation and decarbonizing buildings across the District, coupled with a clean and reliable power supply, will be central in meeting the District's efforts to reach carbon neutrality by 2050."  

Last month, Pepco filed its Climate Solutions Plan with the DCPSC outlining a diverse portfolio of actions and programs the company would implement across the District to meet the city's climate and clean energy goals, while helping ensure an equitable energy system that maintains safe, reliable and affordable service for the company's 312,000 customers in the District.  Pepco's plan envisions program advancement in four key areas: Electrifying Transportation; Decarbonizing Buildings; Activating the Local Energy Ecosystem; and Enhancing Infrastructure for Climate Solutions. The key areas Pepco outlines within the Climate Solutions Plan will drive greenhouse gas emissions reduction opportunities the District has already identified and provide the overall infrastructure needed to enable and support the District's broader vision for its residents and businesses.

Pepco commissioned The Brattle Group to assess the feasibility of implementing a large-scale electrification effort and to examine the potential effects on future electric load growth associated with this energy transformation. The study modeled electrification as the primary pathway to achieving the District's decarbonization goals and estimated peak electric demand would grow at an average rate of 1.4 percent to 1.7 percent between 2021 and 2050, well within historical trends. The study also suggests a robust portfolio of energy efficiency and load flexibility options would reduce total 2050 peak energy demand by 14 percent, eliminating about 40 percent of the load growth that otherwise would occur between 2021 and 2050.

"Our study shows that large-scale electrification of buildings and transportation in the District will result in load growth that is well within the range of growth rates that Pepco has managed in the past," added study coauthors Ryan Hledik and Sanem Sergici, Principals with The Brattle Group.  "The impacts of this load growth will be eased by heavier reliance on energy efficiency and load flexibility, a three-decade planning horizon over which to meet the District's goals, and the current availability of spare winter capacity for addressing growth in heating-related load."

Over the coming months, Pepco has committed to advancing the strategy outlined in its DC Climate Solutions Plan into five-year and 30-year plans and to provide an implementation analysis of the plans supported by a cost-benefit analysis. Pepco will file these five-year and 30-year plans with the DCPSC in October 2021 and will file a cost-benefit analysis before the end of the year.

Pepco's electrification study and DC Climate Solutions Plan build on the company's DC Climate Change Commitment announced last year to align our operations, grid investments and customer product offerings with the District's climate change and clean energy goals. This means:

• Reducing our own greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from operations at a pace that meets or exceeds the District's reduction goals and working to inform and advocate for policies and processes that enable further decarbonization and clean technology deployment; and
• Supporting our customers and the larger community by providing the tools, programs and resources needed to enable the transition to a more equitable and inclusive clean energy future with a lower GHG footprint, improved air quality, and greater resilience in the face of a changing climate with increasingly severe weather.
  

Pepco will also leverage the resources and expertise available as part of Exelon, the nation's leading energy company, and Exelon Utilities, which recently announced its Path to Clean goal of achieving net-zero emissions from its operations by 2050. The company will apply the best practices learned connecting customers with energy efficiency, smart meters, clean electric transportation options, distributed energy resources and smart city technology in Delaware, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey and Pennsylvania to help ensure the District of Columbia leverages the most state-of-the-art, cost-effective and efficient services and programs.

To learn more about Pepco, visit The Source, our online newsroom. Find additional information by visiting pepco.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/pepcoconnect and on Twitter at twitter.com/pepcoconnect. Pepco's mobile app is available at pepco.com/mobileapp.   

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About Pepco:

Pepco is a unit of Exelon Corporation (Nasdaq: EXC), the nation's leading energy provider, with approximately 10 million customers. Pepco provides safe and reliable energy service to approximately 894,000 customers in the District of Columbia and Maryland.