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 PEPCO headquarters inWashington, D.C., in 2020 | |
| Pepco | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
| Industry | Utilities |
| Founded | April 28, 1896; 128 years ago (1896-04-28) (as Potomac Electric Power Company) |
| Founder | Oscar T. Crosby |
| Headquarters | United States  |
Area served | Washington metropolitan area |
| Products | Electric power |
Number of employees | 1,429 |
| Parent | Exelon |
| ASN | 17347 |
| Website | pepco |
ThePotomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO) is an Americanutility company that supplieselectric power to the city ofWashington, D.C., and to surrounding communities inMaryland. It is owned byExelon.
The company's current trademarked slogan is "Your life. Plugged in." Its former slogan was "We're connected to you by more than power lines."
Pepco's bulk transmission system consists of transmission lines operating at 115 kV, 138kV, 230 kV and 500 kV. Pepco has interconnections withPotomac Edison (230kV, 500kV),Baltimore Gas and Electric (500kV, 230kV, 115kV), andDominion Virginia Power (500kV, 230kV).
The company's predecessor, Potomac Electric Co., was organized in 1891 to provide street lighting and streetcar power in Georgetown and Northwest D.C.[1] After suffering during thePanic of 1893, the company filedbankruptcy and, on November 6, 1895, was acquired by Oscar T. Crosby and Charles A. Lieb for $5,500.[1]
The company was incorporated as Potomac Electric Power Company on April 28, 1896 in Virginia. It became a subsidiary of theNorth American Company, which owned theWashington Traction and Electric Company, one of the privatestreetcar companies in Washington.[1]
On December 17, 1896, after a court battle, the company received a contract to light the city of Washington, D.C.
In January 1889, the company merged with its rival,United States Electric Lighting Company.
In 1899, the company merged with Washington Traction and Electric Company.
In June 1901, the company filed forbankruptcy and was acquired by the Washington Railway and Electric Company.
In 1905, revenues exceeded $1 million for the first time.[1]
In 1906, the company began construction of the first unit of theBenning Road Power Plant, along the Anacostia River. When its last unit was completed in 1931, the power plant had a 185,000-kilowatt capacity.
In 1928, theNorth American Company, a holding company that owned many public utilities, gained control of Washington Railway and Electric.
ThePublic Utility Holding Company Act was enacted in 1935 to force the breakup of large utility holding companies. Under this law, theSecurities and Exchange Commission in 1942 ordered the North American Company and its subsidiaries to split up.[2] A years-long legal battle ensued, culminating ina Supreme Court decision upholding the order.[3] As a result, Pepco's stock was distributed to Washington Railway's shareholders in December 1947, making Pepco an independent, publicly traded company.[4][5]
In 1954, revenue exceeded $50 million for the first time.[1]
In 1969, the company suspended itsdividend due to rising costs.[1]
In 1980, the company cancelled plans to build a $930 million power plant in Montgomery County as a result of reduced demand.[6]
In September 1995, the company announced a merger with Baltimore Gas & Electric;[7] however, the merger was cancelled in December 1997.[8]
In 2001, Pepco agreed to acquire Conectiv Power Delivery, the parent company ofDelmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric, for $2.2 billion.[9] The purchase was completed in 2002, with Pepco and Conectiv becoming subsidiaries of a newly formed holding company,Pepco Holdings.[10] In 2003, Pepco's investment subsidiary, Potomac Capital Investment, was transferred to Pepco Holdings.[11]
In 2014, Pepco Holdings agreed to be acquired byExelon for $6.8 billion.[12] The deal faced opposition from Pepco customers and from officials in Washington and Maryland, but was ultimately approved.[13] The acquisition was completed on March 23, 2016, making Pepco a subsidiary of Exelon.[14][15]
An investigation byThe Washington Post in 2010 faulted Pepco for poor reliability. The report noted that the company's performance had slipped since 2005, comparing poorly to other major utilities in the frequency and duration ofpower outages. Thousands of people lost power for as many as five days after only 5–8 inches of heavy wet snow.[16] In 2011,Business Insider named the company first on its list of "The 19 Most Hated Companies In America" based on itsAmerican Customer Satisfaction Index rating.[17]
During theJune 2012 North American derecho, more than half of the customers in Montgomery County, Maryland lost electric power. The company was criticized for being slow to restore power and for charging its customers for the power outage.[18]
TheCoast Guard, along with local agencies, are responding to a mineral oil spill in the Potomac River near Alexandria, Va. on Monday, January 24.Pepco employees notified the Coast Guard Sunday at 12:40 p.m., reporting approximately 5,000 gallons of mineral oil was believed to have leaked from a transformer at the Pepco substation in Alexandria. It was also reported, that an additional 500 gallons had leaked into thePotomac River. Coast Guard Sector Baltimore’s Incident Management Division personnel arrived on scene at approximately 2 p.m. Sunday and conducted a shoreline assessment of the area.Triumvirate Environmental andClean Harbors have been hired by Pepco to contain and dispose of the oil. The oil that reached the waterway has been contained by boom. The cause of the spill is under investigation. USCG Sector Baltimore contactedNOAA SSC early evening on Tuesday, Jan. 25. USCG reported that mineral oil was not dispersing and requested information from NOAA about toxicity concerns if any, and rate of dispersion. Chris Barker, Robert Jones, and Gary Shigenaka provided support.
The company'sBenning Road Power Plant produced air pollution that negatively affected neighboring communities. In 2017, the company agreed to pay regulators $1.6 million for violations of theClean Water Act.[20] In October 2023, Pepco agreed to pay $47 million in costs and $10 million in penalties to D.C. for decades of discharging toxic chemicals in the city, affecting theAnacostia River and other areas.[21]
In March 2022, the D.C. Office of the Attorney General and the Office of the People’s Counsel alleged Pepco was committing a "pattern of systemic violations" in carrying out community solar panel installations.[22] According to the complaint, Pepco has botched its handling of community solar projects in numerous ways. The utility is undercounting solar energy generation at community solar projects, according to the filing, and is “systematically failing” to provide accurate and timely solar credits to customers.[23]
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