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PEPCO Confronted over Arbitrary Utility Cutoffs
from: William Hughes
On May 1, 2009, a press conference was called by “Justice First, “ a national grassroots organization, which is fighting for a moratorium on electric cutoffs and for a rollback on rates. It was held in Washington, D.C., in front of the headquarters of Potomac Electric Power Co. (PEPCO). Thousands of local residents are “vulnerable to having their power shut off. In 2008, PEPCO issued 426,202 shutoff notices. Currently, 1 in 4 D.C. residents are at risk of shutoff,” according to Justice First’s press release. Edward Durham, a D.C. resident, was targeted for such a cutoff on May 1st. In fact, he was supposed to be at the press conference, but he is currently hospitalized. Mr. Durham is disabled and insulin dependent. Activists from “Justice First” insisted that Mr. Durham’s electricity not be cut off, since his insulin must be refrigerated. They were allowed into PEPCO’s office building to plead his case. At press time, this presenter was advised that PEPCO “will not” cut off Mr. Durnham’s electricity and that a “reasonable” payment plan had been negotiated on his behalf by “Justice First” activists. For more background on the issue of utility cutoffs and the millions of dollars in profits taken in by utility giants, like PEPCO, go to: http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9051
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