Photo by Samer Farha.

Pepco — the company so bad that it even baffles WMATA — was recently named the most hated company in America. (Yes, even worse than Comcast!) The electric company’s president, Tom Graham, doesn’t completely agree, of course:

“I don’t agree with the characterization, but I do take it seriously. We are working very hard to improve the quality of service for our customers,” said president Tom Graham. He added, “Our reputation is tarnished.”

Well, that’s the kind of thing that’ll happen when your CEO admits that the company is “not even shooting for average.” Pepco is in the process of initiating a $500 million infrastructure project to improve service; D.C. regulators have also recently tightened performance standards for the utility, requiring them to justify a 5.3 percent rate increase with measurable improvements in reliability.