Pepco - JohnDDuncanIII/thecairo GitHub Wiki
According to the 2024.03.01 — Pepco Bill, "[our] meter was changed on Dec 13 [2023]."
Dec 13, 2023–Jan 19, 2024 Meter Reading in kWh
According to TNWLC, the meter change—along with the concomitant change in the three meter numbers on our Pepco invoices—occurred in February 2024. See Cairo Weekly Management Report-04/05/24:
PEPCO has installed new meter (February). Account currently is holding a credit balance with the next meter reading scheduled for April 17th.
I have seen no evidence which supports TNWLC's above assertion, so I can only surmise that the actual panel meter replacement took place on Dec 13th 2023, as stated by Pepco in the aforementioned March 2024 bill.
Summary: Our master meter was replaced by Pepco 12/13/23.
All estimated and actual readings from meter KZD398923137 which took place between February, 20th, 2024–October 17th, 2024 show a value of 000000kWh.
Original Dec 13, 2023–Oct 17, 2024 Meter Readings in kWh (Mar 1, 2024–Oct 28, 2024 invoices)
In the 2024.11.25 — Pepco Bill, Pepco revised the KZD398923137 meter readings to:
- 002967kWh (November 18th, 2024)
- 002837kWh (October 18th, 2024)
Revised Oct 18, 2024–Nov 18, 2024 Meter Reading in kWh (Nov 25, 2024 invoice)
The 2024.11.25 — Pepco Bill then revised all invoices issued between December 13, 2023–November 18, 2024, estimating the amount that they think the Cairo used for each month between February, 20th, 2024 and October 17th, 2024 for meter KZD398923137.
Revised Dec 13 2023 – Nov 18 2024 Meter Readings in kWh
Summary: After 12/13/23 meter replacement, KZD398923137 meter reported 000000kWh used between 12/13/23–10/17/24. In revised 11/25/24 invoice, 10/17/24 actual meter reading was 002837kWh and 11/18/24 actual meter reading was 002967kWh; in revised 11/25/24 invoice, all prior month meter readings were revised from 000000kWh to random estimated amounts between 2/19/24 estimated meter reading of 000333kWh and 9/18/24 estimated meter reading, reflected in chart below.
The chart makes no sense because each month's revised kWh usage between 12/13/2023 and 10/17/2024 were all estimated save for the actual readings taken on 10/17/2024 and 11/18/2024.
As far as the board is aware, Pepco has no way of knowing how much energy was actually used during these intervening months, only the difference between how much total energy for meter KZD398923137 that had been used between December 13, 2023 (000000kWh) and October 18th, 2024 (002837kWh).
Summary: All kWh billed by Pepcto to meter KZD398923137 between 12/13/23 and 10/17/24 was 000000kWh. In 11/25/24 revised bill, all readings were estimated, so all kWh reportedly used in months between 12/13/23 and 10/17/24 are inaccurate, leading to the unusual 2024 usage reflected in chart shown above.
Whenever a meter tested by the Company or by the Commission is found to have an error in excess of that allowed by the Commission, the provisions for the adjustment of bills set forth in this Section will be observed.
c. Adjustment for Under-Registration
If a meter is tested and found to have under-registered by more than 2%, the Company may charge the Customer's account an amount equal to one-half of the deficiency in billing for the 12-month period immediately preceding the date of discovery of the meter error, unless the meter has been tested within the 12-month period in which event the Company may bill the Customer one-half the unbilled error for the period since the meter was last tested. If the deficiency in amount billed is found to be less than $5.00, no adjustment will be made.
If my hermeneutical understanding of the above terms is correct, then Pepco was only allowed to bill us "one-half of the deficiency in billing for the 12-month period immediately preceding the date of discovery of the meter error, unless the meter has been tested within the 12-month period in which event the Company may bill the Customer one-half the unbilled error for the period since the meter was last tested."
Either way, Pepco should have only billed one-half of the unbilled error for the period since Dec 13, 2023.
d. Other Adjustments
The Company will make appropriate refunds or credits in cases of overcharge or may bill additional amounts in cases of undercharge when amounts billed are found to be in error because of improper connection of metering equipment, incorrect reading of meters, improper application of rate schedule or for other similar reasons. In cases where additional amounts have been billed to the Customer when an undercharge situation has bee found to exist, service will be denied the Customer for non-payment of amounts billed only for that portion of the adjustment applicable to the four (4) months immediately preceding the discovery of the error, unless specifically authorized to do so by the Commission.
The disconnect notice which was issued to us on 4/8/2025 may have also been improper as the Pepco DC terms and conditions also state "[i]n cases where additional amounts have been billed to the Customer when an undercharge situation has bee found to exist, service will be denied the Customer for non-payment of amounts billed only for that portion of the adjustment applicable to the four (4) months immediately preceding the discovery of the error, unless specifically authorized to do so by the Commission."
- 12/13/2023-11/18/2024 amount due was $153,496.60
- 1/6/2025 amount due was $30,824.47
- 2/4/2025 amount due was $51,173.02, , which brought the total amount to $235,494.09. Additionally, the 2/25/2025 amount due was $40,792.12.
The Cairo paid $56,407.24 on 2/19/2025, $76,609.47 on 3/17/2025, and erroneously paid $76,609.47 again on 3/20/2025, leaving an outstanding balance of $66,660.03 ($235,494.09 - $56,407.24 + $40,792.12 - $76,609.47 - $76,609.47 = $66,660.03)
Summary: The disconnect notice was improper to issue as only the amounts from the 4 months preceding November 2024 plus charges in 2025 were allowed to be integrated into the charge of the disconnect notice, but the entire revised 12/13/2023–11/18/2024 $153,496.60 amount was integrated into the accounting.
Between 12/13/2023–3/19/2024, Pepco did not bill the Cairo any supply costs. Starting on 4/5/2024, Pepco began invoicing supply costs again. The revised 2024.11.25 — Pepco Bill still did not bill any supply costs between 12/13/2023 to 4/4/2024.
December 13, 2023 to March 19, 2024 Supply Charges
On 3/28/24, TNWLC signed a new bulk energy contract with Direct Energy Business:
- Contract 1: 137 accounts, 30 months, April 2024 – October 2026
- Contract 2: 4 accounts, 29 months, May 2024 – October 2026
- Both contracts: NRG / Direct Energy, $0.11996/kWh, 100% green energy
Our total cost for electricity supply increased from $0.0918200/kWh (Pepco's Standard Offer Service (SOS)) to $0.11996/kWh (Direct Energy Business (DEB)) in April 2024 due to the bulk energy contract with DEB that TNWLC signed on behalf of the Cairo; the board was first made aware of this decision in memos sent on 3/12/2024 and 4/24/2025, respectively.
Pepco’s SOS rate remained $0.08967 (summer) and $0.09922/kWh (winter) up until June 2025, when their residential schedule MMA tariffs were raised to $0.12432/kWh (summer) and $0.13214/kWh (winter)
This raise was
“due to the retirement of generating facilities across the regional electric wholesale market, increasing demand for electricity by new high-usage regional data centers, and increasing mandates from the District's Renewable Energy Portfolio Standard. In July 2024, the PJM Interconnection LLC held its capacity auction for the 2025-2026 delivery year, which resulted in capacity prices that hit record highs.” (PSC)
So, while the Cairo could have continued paying 0.09922/kWh until May 2025, we instead paid $0.11996/kWh due to the 2-year 100% green energy supply contract with Direct Energy Business, as negotiated by TNWLC and signed on behalf of all of their portfolio properties. While this led to increased energy costs between April 2024 and June 2025 when compared to the standard Pepco SOS supply rate, it will theoretically assuage our costs from June 2025 until the bulk energy contract with DEB expires in October 2026.