Dupont Circle neighborhood experiences repeated power outages as high temperatures persist
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — Days after a transformer caught fire at a Pepco substation in Northwest D.C., hundreds of customers in the Dupont Circle neighborhood are still experiencing power outages.
Shortly after midnight, on July 17, the D.C. Fire and EMS Department was dispatched to the Pepco substation in the 2140 N St. NW for a fire. A Twinned Agent Unit extinguished the transformer inside the substation, and no injuries were reported.
However, the issues had begun Tuesday night, when two feeder cables tripped, one at 11th and Clinton streets NW, and the other at 11th and Monroe Streets NW. Despite no customers seeing impacts in either of these incidents, another failure occurred Wednesday night, sparking the 22nd Street substation fire.
About 1,800 customers were left without power in the Dupont Circle and West End areas Thursday morning, per DC News Now’s previous coverage. However, Pepco restored power to most customers by Thursday afternoon.
Despite this, service disruptions continued to be an issue. On the morning of Sunday, July 20, a power line feeding the 22nd Street substation tripped again, prompting Pepco to turn off the power for hundreds of customers to “help avoid further impact at the substation” and prevent a larger outage.
Ashley Lund lives in a high-rise and is at wits’ end, concerned about her neighbors as much as her comfort.
“People that have medical needs, people that have to refrigerate their medicine or that have medical devices plugged in, or even to get to work, they can’t get out of the garage,” Lund said.
Neighbor Thomas Darapiza is also worried about elderly neighbors.
“We have elderly people who live in this 10-story building here,” Darapiza explains, “and they can’t walk up and down these steps. They have medications that need to be refrigerated.”
Adding to residents’ anxiety here is that PEPCO is restoring power intermittently.
“Turn it back on anytime you want,” Darapiza explains. “We’re scrambling. We don’t even know what to expect now.”
Retiree Michael Silverstein wishes there was communication from the power company.
“At 7 o’clock in the morning, bang,” exclaims Silverstein. “I could have been stuck in the elevator! We simply need to know what is going on!”
Neighbors say their Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner, Alex Marshall, has reached out but has no assurances of immediate relief.
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Frank Tedesco, a spokesperson for Pepco, told DC News Now that the utility proactively disconnected power for about 200 customers at 9 a.m. and disconnected it for about 1,673 customers at 10:15 a.m.
As of 1:50 p.m., 1,794 customers were without power in the Dupont Circle area, according to Pepco’s outage map. This comes as the District remains under a heat alert, with temperatures climbing into the lower 90s.
Tedesco said that, at this time, there is no estimated restoration time available as crews continue to make repairs to the substation and that the utility may have to drop more customers from the power to prevent more widespread outages.
“We understand how disruptive these outages can be for our customers, particularly multiple outage events in just a few days, and appreciate their continued understanding and patience as crews work safely and as quickly as possible to make additional repairs. Customers should continue to check pepco.com/Outage or our mobile app for the latest estimates on when service will be restored,” Pepco wrote in a statement.
Although the exact cause of Sunday’s outages is under evaluation, Tedesco said permanent repairs are ongoing at the 22nd Street substation and will continue through July 30.
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