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Justice First is a grassroots organization with its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. Its “Power for the People” campaign is grounded in the principle that utilities are a basic right. To find out more about Justice First, click here.
Activists and community members came out on Jan. 23 to take a stand against the exorbitant rate hikes and profiteering practices of the utility giants operating in Washington, D.C.
A rally initiated by Justice First gathered outside the City Council building around 9 a.m., one hour prior to the scheduled start of a roundtable on utility reliability hosted by the Council of the District of Columbia’s Committee on Public Services and Consumer Affairs.
Despite the cold morning, several dozen volunteers and community members, including activists from the ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and members of the Party for Socialism and Liberation joined Justice First in a spirited denouncement of Pepco, the primary electricity provider in Washington.
Chants of “Hey hey! Ho Ho! Pepco has got to go!” and “Shut off Pepco, not our lights! Heat and light are a right!” filled the streets. Several media outlets covered the rally, including the Washington Post, the Washington Examiner, and NBC Washington.
Throughout the hearing, a number of attendees held signs in support of Justice First’s Winter Moratorium campaign, which seeks a ban on heat shutoffs during the winter months and an immediate 50 percent rollback of utility rates.
D.C. residents and representatives of local organizations took turns testifying before Committee Chair Muriel Bowser, who was later joined by Councilmember Harry Thomas Jr.
Mia Johnson had an impeccable record as a Pepco customer, never missing a payment. That did not stop Pepco from billing her nearly $10,000 for electricity that, according to Pepco, she had never paid for.
One of Pepco’s infamous practices is to estimate electricity usage rather than bill according to meter readings, invariably undercharging its customers. When the meter is finally read, customers get slammed with a bill for the difference. That is exactly what Pepco did to Johnson—after estimating her bills for three years.
“I am a single working mother with a teenage daughter,” Johnson said. “Like any parent, I have dreams of my daughter going to college. … But the reality is that this may not be possible if I am expected to hand over all my income and savings to Pepco.”
Pepco customer Ladon Boyd did not hold back, confronting the Council for its subservience to the utility monopoly.
“Pepco keeps raising their rates, but if my hourly wage isn’t increasing, how do you expect me to pay these rising bills? If I don’t have electricity, how am I supposed to wash my children’s clothes, cook for them, and keep my house safe? … Despite what they did to me, you still allow them to threaten to disconnect me when I can’t pay everything Pepco wants.”
As part of its campaign for a winter moratorium on heat shutoffs, Justice First has launched a sign-on letter to garner support. More information about the campaign and how to sign on can be found at www.JusticeFirst.org.
