Friday Question of the Day – Rating Pepco

“Dear PoPville,

Day 5 of no power, but Pepco installs a street light!

How is it that Pepco sends out a crew everyday this week to install a street light when the residents of the street are STILL WITHOUT POWER?! How dare they brag about restoring 90%!”

Another resident has started a change.org petition with over 1500 hundred signatures as of Thurs. evening:

Pepco makes millions in profit but remains one of the most unreliable utility companies in America. Add your voice to the demand that Pepco invest their profits in burying the power lines and making our power system more reliable and safe.

In the first 3 months of this year the utility company Pepco made $68 million in profit. In 2009 the CEO of Pepco, Joe Rigby, made $2.9 million in personal income.

My neighbor is 70 years old, her name is Kay, and she has now been without power for 4 days in this sweltering heat. (Update: Kay told me this morning that her dog is acting really sluggish and she is worried the dog might die).

For almost $3 million a year, Joe Rigby needs to be held to account. We demand, on behalf of all the seniors, poverty-stricken and children, that Pepco immediately begin investing their profits in improving our power and implement a long term solution to these unacceptable delays.

For instance, Pepco could commit to a 5 year plan to bury the power lines in their service areas which would greatly improve reliability during massive wind storms and blizzards.

Invest your profits in your customers!

And in the tradition of the Cabin Fever video from Snowmaggadeon 2010, other readers send in a video voicing their frustration (NSFW) in song about Pepco:

But on the other hand we’ve seen Pepco employees working through the 4th of July and scorching heat.

Do you think Pepco is to blame for taking so long to restore to power to 100% of its users? Or is this just the unfortunate reality of a huge storm and living in an area with lots of trees and above ground wires?