Pepco restores service in DuPont Circle neighborhood for the third time

WASHINGTON — Numerous Dupont Circle neighbors woke up Sunday morning to a now-familiar issue: their power was out yet again.

According to Pepco, the 22nd Street substation experienced its third power outage within three days, and the electrical company was “actively addressing” the equipment issue. As of 5 p.m. Sunday, Pepco reported the utility repairs were completed and power was restored to the affected customers.

The outage began on Thursday. They have said what the underlying problem was that caused the outages. According to the Pepco website, as of noon, 28% of the customers in the 20036 zip code are impacted by the outage.

“These equipment issues, along with increased demand from summer heat and intermittent storms, have placed increased load on our electric system, prompting a series of protective actions to prevent larger, more widespread outages,”  Pepco Spokesperson Rod Wilson said. “Since the initial incident, Pepco crews have been working around the clock to make both temporary and permanent repairs. The situation remains dynamic, and due to the extent of the damage and the complexity of the system, work is expected to continue through the end of the month.”

Wilson said around 1,800 customers were without service as of Sunday morning. WUSA9 crews in the area also witnessed traffic signals out and some businesses in the neighborhood without power as well.

When asked if they give warning to their customers on when these outages will come, a spokesperson for Pepco said they are working on giving proactive content and warnings to customers.

By 10:30 a.m., a thread had been started in the /washingtondc subreddit about the recurring outages, with several posters noting they had lost food to spoilage over the past few days.

“I complained to a very nice representative this morning who said the issue is ‘large and complex’ — Pepco’s not even telling their own folk what’s happening,” wrote Redditor chamclowder.

“3rd day no power and in a heat emergency – unreal,” added another user, referencing the D.C. heat emergency that has been issued through 8 a.m. Monday morning.

Pepco says their crews are continuing to investigate the issue, but that they will have to continue “dropping customers” (intentionally killing their power) to ensure no further damage happens to the substation. Power may be out continuously or turn on and off for customers as they work to fix the issue.