City Council hearings/roundtables

Upcoming City Council events include:

• The Performance of the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Administration:   The Committee on Health (CM Catania, At-large, chair) is holding this public oversight roundtable on December 17 at 10:00 am.   The purpose of this roundtable is to review the performance of the HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and Tuberculosis Administration (HAHSTA) in facilitating and monitoring the delivery of HIV/AIDS services to District residents.   The roundtable is open to the public but only invited witnesses will be permitted to provide oral statements.   Public comments are encouraged in writing; details about submitting comments and the roundtable are in the hearing notice.
• Utility Reliability in the District of Columbia public oversight roundtable:   The Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs (CM Bowser, Ward 4, chair) is holding this roundtable on January 23 at 10:00 am in the Council Chamber.   The purpose of the roundtable is to hear from residents and others about the quality of regulated utilities in the city; regulated utilities include Verizon, Washington Gas, and PEPCO.   Details about the hearing, including how to register to testify and what information the committee is most interested in hearing from residents about, is in the hearing notice.

Did you know Pepco wants to increase residential rates?

Pepco has proposed an increase in rates and charges to residential electricity customers.   According to a June 2009 fact sheet,

Pepco’s proposal seeks an increase of nearly 6.1% in residential customers’ overall monthly bills.   The typical bill for a Standard Offer Service ("SOS") residential customer who does not choose an electric generation supplier using 750 kilowatt-hours of electricity per month would increase by about $6.00.

The Public Service Commission is holding community meetings to elicit resident feedback on the proposal.   Two meetings remain:

• Thursday, November 19 at 6:30 pm at Hillcrest Recreation Center (3100 Denver St SE)
• Friday, November 20 at 10:00 am at D.C. Public Service Commission (1333 H St NW, Hearing Room 7th Floor East Tower)

Green DMV has started a petition opposing the increases.

Finally, more about the rate increase and what service providers can do to comment on the proposal is here.