Pepco Ranks Poorly For Accountability, Analysis Finds

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A Washington Post analysis finds Pepco ranks near the bottom among utilities when it comes to reliability, and equipment failures caused the most outages. 

Pepco has faced criticism over the past year for storm outages that left customers in the dark for days, and utility officials have said downed tree limbs were a factor. However, the Post review also found failures on quiet days without violent weather and equipment failure, not trees, caused the most sustained interruptions last year. 

The review found the average Pepco customer experienced 70 percent more outages than customers of other big city utilities in a 2009 survey. 

Pepco, which provides service in Washington and Prince George's and Montgomery counties in Maryland, says it has begun a five-year reliability improvement program.