February Pepco Numbers: A cold winter leaves over 70k DC residents behind on their electric bills

Pepco’s rate increase and a cold winter hit DC residents hard. Some residents saw their bills more than double, prompting backlash and outcry on both social media and the local press. By Pepco’s mandated reporting to the PSC, over 74,000 customers are in arrears, meaning those customers are currently indebted to the utility (ARDIR2025-01). This number is down from the 77,525 customers in utility debt in January.

While Pepco announced early February it would not be charging late fees or disconnecting services for overdue bills for the month, the sudden spike in prices is troubling. Pepco’s own data show over half of its low-income customers are in debt, and that this issue is chronic. By 2024’s reporting, indebted low-income customers hovered around 50% month-on-month, while about 20% of all customers were late on their bills (ARDIR2024-01). We are seeing bills too high for the average person and assistance programs, like the Residential Aid Discount, too frugal to be fully effective.

While energy rates from PJM increased, it is worth noting that Pepco received about $10 million more in revenue this February compared to just last year. We are awaiting the detailed reporting on energy pricing that Pepco pays PJM, the grid operator for the DC region.