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DCist's lively comment thread about the news of a sudden rise in D.C. electricity bills combined with second-day stories about how many more D.C. residents are being threatened with their power getting shut off have us on high alert for all things Pepco. Well earlier today the utility posted a web video (and written transcript) titled "Pepco Cares About Your Energy Usage", and introduced a Twitter feed where you can contact Pepco's "social media lead" directly.
We feel pretty bad for the guy responsible for manning that Twitter feed—if it ends up anything like ComcastCares, he is going to be plenty busy. As for the video, the overall message is still the same from Pepco: it's not their fault. There was merely this crazy convergence, they explain, of longer billing cycles/extreme cold weather/you bought a flatscreen TV for X-mas/rates increased last summer/you failed to weather proof your windows/etc.
Also worth noting: most of the first day of PepcoTwittering just involved asking Twitter users to email pepcoconnect(at)pepco.com directly, so feel free to skip the middleman if you prefer.
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(hat tip to jaime for catching this earlier today)
Ah well, someone IM'd me with the link to the feed, I didn't see that Jaime put it in the comments, but yes, looks like she had it before I did. Good on ya!
He must have made someone super angry to have gotten this gig. There are tons of people who don't tweet, so how is this going to help?
I'm actually glad to see this - both the pepco response and also, in a disturbed way (admittedly) that this is a problem citywide. I moved from the city and got a tenant right about the exact moment the fares HIKED and was wondering what the heck he was doing in my teeny apt. that used so much electric. reading others stories it turns out he may be using minimal electric, relatively!
I called Pepco yesteday to discuss my bill and after 2 hours and 33 minutes of waiting for the next representative (and it being 15 minutes after their 7pm shutoff time) I hung up.
I don't mind the cold much, so in the winter I turn the heat off. Normally, this makes my bill go down to about $20. This time, it is $85-$95.