from: William Hughes

On July 2, 2009, a protest action was called by "Justice First," a national grassroots organization, to object to Potomac Electric Power Company’s (PEPCO) proposed $51.7 Million rate increase. If passed, it will mean a 6.1 percent hike per month for each of the residential customers it serves. Justice First has been fighting for a moratorium on electric cutoffs and for a rollback on rates in the Washington, D.C. area. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kU2sz_Z6MBU&feature=channel_page Eugene Puryear, an activist with Justice First, shared his views with me about the protest action, which was held in Washington, D.C., in front of the D.C. Public Service Commission. Thousands of local residents are "vulnerable to having their power shut off. In 2008, PEPCO issued 426,202 shutoff notices. Currently, 1 in 4 D.C. residents are at risk of shutoff," according to a Justice First's press release. For more background on the issue of utility cutoffs and the millions of dollars in profits taken in by utility giants, like PEPCO, go to http://www.pephost.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=9051 Next store, in Maryland, “84,000 households” are at risk of electricity shut off by BGE, according to the Baltimore Sun. See:http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/politics/bal-energy0305,0,2813711.story Meanwhile, the CEO of BGE’s parent company, Constellation Energy, one Mayo Shattuck, is looking to snatch “a $87 million payout” at rate payers’ expense. Check out a protest action in Baltimore, MD. at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cy7fCBGVCLs&feature=channel_page