Pepco Maryland Multi-Year Plan to Continue Improvements in Reliability and Grid Modernization While Holding Distribution Rates Flat through March 2023

Customer energy delivery rates stay flat until at least March of 2023.
Residential customer total bills continue to remain below 2011 levels.
Hundreds of energy infrastructure projects and maintenance programs support more than $1 billion in local economic impact and 1,425 existing jobs per year over the plan.
Continued workforce development effort helping to produce jobs for Marylanders.
Transition of more than 66,000 Pepco-owned streetlights to cleaner, more efficient, smart LED streetlight technology that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help Maryland and our localities meet their climate change goals.
Build out of EVsmart program to help drive clean transportation.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Oct. 26, 2020) – Today, Pepco filed a multi-year plan with the Maryland Public Service Commission (PSC) designed to assist in the recovery of the region from the pandemic, continue to improve the local energy grid and build a smarter, stronger, cleaner energy future for the 582,000 electric customers the company serves in Montgomery and Prince George's counties. The plan details how Pepco will invest in the local energy grid and enhance service for customers while providing transparency and bill predictability for customers. The investments outlined in the plan create approximately $1 billion of economic activity in Maryland, supporting more than 1,425 existing jobs per year for the period of the plan.

As part of the plan, and to support customers who may be financially impacted by the pandemic, Pepco will accelerate customer tax benefits, essentially maintaining energy delivery rates at current levels for the next two years, keeping these rates flat through the period. Besides flat distribution rates, electric supply costs for Pepco standard offer service customers dropped by $2.80 per month due to a reduction in wholesale energy costs.

“We understand the challenging impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought upon our customers and communities. This plan allows us to provide customers stability in their energy rates while continuing to make investments that will help make the grid smarter, stronger and cleaner, and support in the recovery of the local economy when it is needed most,” said Donna Cooper, Pepco region president. “We have worked thoughtfully and collectively to build a plan to help support the region’s recovery—offsetting rate adjustments by accelerating tax benefits to keep energy delivery rates flat for at least two years. We provided grants and donations to help support our communities with assistance to small businesses and emergency funds, community colleges and impacted students, as well as relief organizations that support customers impacted by the pandemic.”

So far this year, Pepco has provided more than $2 million in support of local nonprofits and to local relief funds, supporting families, individuals and small businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In June, Pepco announced that it would provide $200,000 to support students in Montgomery and Prince George's counties who are pursuing higher education and vocational training—helping ensure a sustainable local pipeline of talent and a workforce that is prepared for future careers in energy and related sectors. The company also announced expanded support for small business recovery by providing grants totaling $500,000 to small businesses in Montgomery and Prince George's counties.

In addition to the jobs supported by Pepco’s continued investment in the local energy grid, Pepco and its parent company, Exelon, continue to support workforce development efforts across Prince George’s and Montgomery county. This effort includes nearly $3 million invested over the last four years in Maryland with an emphasis on promotion of training and job creation in the areas of energy efficiency, renewable energy and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) fields.

Pepco’s multi-year plan outlines strategic investments, including hundreds of projects to modernize and reinforce the local energy grid between 2021 and 2023. These projects include efforts that will improve system performance through new, more modern equipment, projects to expand capacity and meet the growing needs of customers, efforts to help prevent those power outages that can be prevented, and corrective maintenance work, which focuses on replacing infrastructure that is approaching end of life.

Pepco’s Maryland customers are benefitting from the continued modernization of the local energy grid. Since 2015, power outages have declined by more than 27 percent and when customers do experience a service interruption, their power is restored nearly 37 percent faster today. In 2019, Pepco reported the best reliability performance of any Maryland utility in the annual service quality and reliability reporting to the Public Service Commission.

In addition to enhancing reliability, Pepco’s plan includes a proposal to transition company owned streetlights to cleaner, more efficient smart LED streetlight technology between 2022 and 2026— reducing greenhouse gas emissions and helping Maryland and our localities meet their climate change goals. Pepco has near-term plans to modernize more than 66,000 existing streetlights with centrally managed smart LED streetlights and smart nodes that will offer remote light management and more enhanced operational oversight, while protecting the environment. This LED conversion program will bring cutting-edge lighting solutions to Maryland’s communities, increasing energy efficiency, supporting state clean energy goals, reducing operational costs, and improving public safety across the state.

Pepco is also building out its EVsmart program, helping to facilitate the transition toward zero emissions vehicles and an electrified transportation system. EVsmart has already powered up several of the planned 250 new Level 2 electric vehicle (EV) charging stations in Maryland, and provides customers with rebates, tools, and information on how to go electric. Pepco plans to build out the EVsmart program with an extensive EV charging network across Montgomery and Prince George’s counties, providing drivers charging flexibility—fueled by 100 percent carbon-free energy.

Prior to the pandemic, Pepco had been designing a forward-looking energy infrastructure investment plan. In light of the economic challenges created by the pandemic and because of the flexibility offered by a multi-year plan, the company was able to structure this plan to provide both near-term relief for customers and continue longer-term stimulus for Maryland’s economy.

An additional benefit to customers as they work even harder to balance personal finances during this pandemic is the new, multi-year plan structure that increases transparency, accountability, predictability and affordability. The multi-year structure enables Pepco to hold energy delivery rates flat for the first two years of the plan, as the region recovers. After holding energy delivery rates flat for two years, the company is requesting a 4.4 percent ($5.50) upward adjustment of typical monthly residential bills effective April 1, 2023, and a 4.2 percent ($5.50) upward adjustment of typical monthly residential bills effective on April 1, 2024, to reflect the investments being made over the period of the plan.

In total, over the period covered by this plan, customers would experience an $11 monthly increase in the typical residential bill, or 1.29 percent annual average per year over the period of the plan since the last rate increase. Even with the changes outlined in this plan, total bills for the typical Pepco residential customer using 811 kilowatt hours per month will remain about 14 percent lower than they were in 2011.

The review process of the multi-year plan component is a public process led by the PSC, an independent state commission, that ensures transparency, public input and just and reasonable rates for all customers. A decision on the current proposed plan is expected from the PSC in May 2021. More information on Pepco’s plan is available at pepco.com/mypmd.