Washington Informer

Customers Have Had Fewer Outages

WASHINGTON, D.C. – With fewer outages, and those occurring being shorter in duration, Pepco customers are starting to see benefits from ongoing efforts to improve reliability.

"Providing safe and reliable electricity to our customers is our utmost priority," Thomas H. Graham, President, Pepco Region, said Monday. "We are investing more than a half-billion dollars in reliability enhancements to make sure we can meet our customers' expectations. This is an ongoing effort, but it is starting to pay off."

Customers served by upgraded power lines experienced a 39 percent reduction in the average number of power outages of normal day-to-day service during 2011 as compared to 2010. When outages did occur, they didn't last nearly as long, declining by 56 percent compared to 2010.

Pepco began a strategic initiative in September 2010 to improve reliability including trimming trees and replacing cable along power lines that span thousands of miles. Since then, Pepco has:

· Trimmed more than 3,239 miles of trees along power lines in Maryland and 556 miles in the District of Columbia. Pepco plans to trim another 750 miles in Maryland between now and the end of the year and 242 miles in the District. Pepco increased the number of tree trimmers on its system from 150 in September 2010 to 315 currently. The company also has award-winning arborists on staff who help ensure that the trees that are being trimmed stay healthy. · In 2011 Pepco inspected 63 of its electric lines that provide power to its substations and found that tree trimming was necessary for all of them and improvements were needed for all of them. The improvements should be completed by this summer. The trimming should be completed in 2013 · Renewed or replaced more than 439 miles of neighborhood underground electric cable in Maryland since September 2010 and plans to do the same for another 199 miles between now and the end of 2012.

Beyond trimming trees and replacing or renewing cable, Pepco is also improving the service of feeder lines that bring power into neighborhoods with the poorest reliability and on enhancing the responsiveness of its customer service center.

In Customer Care, the number of representatives who take customer calls has doubled – from 40 to 80, the number of phone lines has more than doubled – from 300 to 644, and the company has made arrangements to tap into more outside customer service help during major outages. All Customer Care representatives have been retrained, and Pepco also provided training for the 275 employees who will provide additional help when needed.

"We have worked hard to identify areas where we can improve our system and our performance, and we are working hard and making the investments necessary to get those improvements made," Graham said. "We are making progress, and we will continue this work to better meet our own expectations and those of our customers."

For more information and updates, visit www.pepco.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/PepcoConnect and Like us on Facebook at facebook.com/PepcoConnect

More than 300 District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS) teachers have been targeted for pink skips by the end of the current school term, but they have until August 15 to find alternate posts in the system.

School officials announced on May 4 that notices were issued to 333 teachers, as part of DCPS's annual changes aligned with its budget and enrollment.

However, with about 60 percent of the targeted teachers facing rehiring, it's likely that just a third – or 133-- of the them will lose their jobs, according to Washington Teachers Union president, Nathan Saunders.  He also said during an interview Monday that the process could have been handled a lot better.

"It's my job to grow that 60 percent to a higher percentage," said Saunders. "We're all interested in having high quality teachers in our classrooms, but to have hundreds of people exit at the end of the school year is really a shock therapy to the public schools system," je said. "[The layoffs] create a tremendous amount of anxiety and a perception that this is not a stable workforce to become part of or to be retained within."

Teachers who fail to attain other employment by August, or those with high performance evaluations will have the choice of a $25,000 buyout or a "grace year" when placed at a school. Teachers with lower ratings face firing.

While Saunders feels that less than 100 teachers will be affected, he said there are important issues like resume writing, portfolio development skills and job interviewing skills that WTU is currently trying to help members with "in order to manage the annual changes and processes."

Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson was not available for comment as of late Monday.

This year, First Lady Michelle Obama will deliver commencement addresses at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University (North Carolina A&T), and Oregon State University (OSU). Mrs. Obama will begin her 2012 commencement addresses at Virginia Tech where she was inspired by the resilience of the student body and community coming together to support each other during difficult times.

The next day, the First Lady will travel to North Carolina to speak at North Carolina A&T, part of the rich legacy of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) that have been instrumental in educating generations of African Americans. The President and First Lady both have recognized the important contributions of HBCUs across the country and have delivered commencement addresses to highlight their successes.

In June, Mrs. Obama will deliver the commencement address to OSU graduates. OSU's student body has been recognized for its efforts to promote healthy communities by organizing large scale food donation drives. OSU researchers also have worked to identify factors that lead to childhood obesity and are developing prevention programs for school districts, parents and health care providers to help improve children's' health. Mrs. Obama's brother, Craig Robinson serves as the school's head men's basketball coach.

In 2009, Mrs. Obama spoke at the graduation of University of California Merced's first full senior class. She also addressed the Washington Math and Science Tech Public Charter High School Graduation in Washington, D.C. In 2010, Mrs. Obama addressed graduates of the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, the George Washington University, and the Anacostia Senior High School. Last year, Mrs. Obama delivered commencement addresses at the University of Northern Iowa, Spelman College, and Quantico Middle High School. The First Lady also spoke to graduates and families at West Point.

Friday, May 11, Blacksburg, Virginia (12 p.m.)

The First Lady will address more than 5,000 graduates of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Mrs. Obama will join U.S. Senator Mark Warner who will also deliver a commencement address to Virginia Tech's graduates.

Saturday, May 12, Greensboro, North Carolina (10 a.m.)

The First Lady will deliver the commencement address at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University located in Greensboro, North Carolina.

A plan by Mayor Vincent Gray to compensate city workers for four days of forced furloughs last year, has been defeated (7-5) by the D.C. Council.

The measure, which was pushed through for a vote by Council Chairman Kwame Brown, involved a $22 million plan for the Presidents Day, Emancipation Day, Memorial Day and Fourth of July holidays which the workers weren't paid in order to close a $188 million gap in the city budget. But a $64,000 surplus was reported the latter part of 2011 and Gray was looking to compensate workers from those coffers.

"We are disappointed the Council has failed to approve this critical legislation," Gray spokesman Pedro Ribeiro, said in an interview. Ribeiro added that the vote was "immensely short-sighted and highly irresponsible."

There had been two versions of the proposal: One would have allowed workers to be immediately paid for the four days, and the other sought payment to the tune of $11 million for just two of the holidays. The rest of the money would have been earmarked for health care and housing initiatives. Employees would have received compensation for the remaining two days after revenue estimates had been made.

While At-Large Council member Michael Brown, described the defeat as a loss for "everybody," Kwame Brown said he had been committed to moving the surplus to a vote.

But he said the Council just wasn't satisfied with the measure.

"Some [Council] members believed that the affordable housing money was cut and that employees [looking for such housing] might not be able to participate in that program," the chairman said. He also said that passing the vote would have left many residents without health insurance, and that money earmarked for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) recipients -- the city's poorest residents -- would likewise be reduced.

"We had was a lot of [Council] members with priorities, trying to make sure that they represented their constituency groups," Kwame Brown said. "We were committed to moving the measure through for the mayor, but it didn't get enough votes to pass."