‘ON THE GROUND’ SHOW, FEB. 5, 2015–DC ACTIVISTS FIGHT THE TAKEOVER OF DC’s ELECTRIC UTILITY BY NUCLEAR GIANT EXELON


FEBRUARY 5, 2015
THE PLANNED TAKEOVER OF DC’s ELECTRIC UTILITY BY A NUCLEAR GIANT
On this first day for us of the Winter Fund Drive, we’re talking about a FAR LARGER MONTHLY bill—our electric bill. You may not know about it but there is a planned multi-billion dollar takeover of PEPCO — Washington, DC’s electric power utility — by Exelon, a Chicago-based nuclear energy giant. And you also might not know that the conventional wisdom in conventional political circles is that this planned merger is ALL BUT A DONE DEAL. But a diverse coalition of citizen groups, environmentalists and other social justice organizations are saying NOT SO FAST. This coalition, called Power DC, is urging DC residents and other concerned citizens of the DMV to write the DC Public Service Commission by March 26th. If this merger goes through, activists say DC’s electric bills will be higher and service will be even less reliable than under PEPCO.