D.C. residents revolt over soaring utility bills
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Shocked by your winter utility bill? You're not alone.
- Nearly 100 residents, small business owners and advocacy groups testified before the D.C. Council last week, blasting eye-popping bills and questioning why the Public Service Commission (PSC) keeps approving rate hikes.
Why it matters: No one expects their bill to double or triple — especially if their energy use hasn't changed.
- Some city residents told lawmakers they're facing brutal trade-offs: risk shut offs, dip into savings, or cut back on groceries and other essentials.
The big picture: Energy costs in D.C. have surged 93.2% in five years — the largest spike in the country, per advocacy group We Power DC.
What's driving it: A variety of factors.
- Extreme weather: Hotter summers and colder winters mean higher demand.
- More demand overall: Population growth and energy-hungry data centers in Northern Virginia strain the regional grid, pushing up wholesale power prices.
- Utility rate hikes: Pepco, Washington Gas and DC Water have all increased delivery charges.
- Federal pullbacks on clean energy investments.
Zoom in: Some pressures collided this winter.
- Washington Gas customers saw a 13% rate hike in January (about $11 more per month). Pepco is in the middle of a multiyear increase to modernize its grid.
- Add record cold — and bills spiked.
By the numbers: At last week's council hearing, one Sierra Club member reported a $600 combined gas and electric bill — despite making energy-efficiency upgrades.
- Councilmember Robert White said a recent bills of his hit $1,100.
- Councilmember Janeese Lewis George's almost topped $900.
What they're saying: "I have constituents about to get put out because they can't pay the bill. Calls are coming in left and right," one neighborhood commissioner testified. "We need to help. Something has to happen."
What's next: The D.C. Council must vote by late April on whether to reappoint the Public Service Commission chair and a commissioner — the officials who help approve utility rates, and whom advocates are calling to step down.
Meanwhile, two new bills aim to ease pressure:
- A proposal from White would require utilities to justify rate hikes based on historic costs — not future projections — and tighten rules on multiyear rate plans.
A bill from Councilmember Charles Allen would make it faster and cheaper to connect rooftop solar to the grid. His office says that could cut household electricity bills by 10% to 30%.