PSC Commissioner pushes for immediate refunds and end to multi-year rate hikes

Commissioner Richard Beverly’s latest statement goes on the offensive: he wants refunds for all customers overpaying on high Pepco delivery rates since 2025 and an end to the multi-year rate plan framework that has raised rates significantly since 2021.

The balance of power at the PSC recently shifted. Originally, corporate-aligned Emile Thompson and Ted Trabue voted consistently to approve Pepco rate hikes while Beverly dissented. (Thompson and Trabue also failed to properly hold Pepco to account regarding solar interconnection, data requests, and oversight items, which are detailed here.) Now that Thompson has resigned, voting power is split between Trabue and Beverly, meaning all decisions on rate hikes grind to a halt.

Beverly has consistently voted against Pepco’s requests to raise rates, pointing to the company’s lack of compelling evidence, little public benefit, and failure by the PSC to properly assess the impact of Pepco’s original 2021 rate hike. In his dissent, Beverly showcases that Pepco was already overearning its approved ROE before requesting yet another rate hike, yet says his colleagues approved Pepco’s request based on inappropriate financial and managerial assumptions.

Overall, he found Pepco’s argument for more money completely lacking while finding additional issues with the PSC’s own handling of the rate case. Following a DC Court of Appeals decision, Beverly’s criticisms were validated: Pepco’s approved 2025-26 rate hike was vacated by the courts. This means that since 2025, the delivery rates all Pepco DC customers have been paying no longer have legal basis to be so high.

What does this mean? Beverly thinks that customers should be refunded for overpayment since January 2025. (Especially since Pepco is retrying its rate hike, scheduled for November 2026.)

But this muddles Pepco’s plans to keep rates high even further: Beverly has already indicated he’s basically unwilling to approve Pepco’s multi-year rate hike as it stands, stating he is “strongly disinclined to do anything other than dismiss an application that’s deficient on its face,” indicating Pepco’s current proposal.

It’s unclear if the rate case will have a decision this year, especially if the PSC is deadlocked with only two commissioners. What is known is that electric bills are far too high in the District, leaving nearly one in four residents trapped in utility debt to Pepco while thousands of disconnection notices go out each month.

Beverly’s scrutiny of Pepco’s nonstop obsession for profit at the expense of DC residents is a relief, especially as corporations everywhere run rampant to pick the pockets of regular people. With an actual progressive mayor and incoming DC Council slated for 2027, there is optimism that our lawmakers and regulators will finally focus on the public benefit and not just rubber stamp rate hikes to satisfy powerful corporate monopolies.