others actually think pepco is doing a good job. the american city diner is serving as an overnight cooling center for some of the folks around here sitting without power tonight. but take a listen to what some of the people told us when we gave them the microphone. >> pepco, here is the thing. friday electricity went out in new carrollton. phone call was made saturday morning to you asking you to come out and take care of the electricity outage. i still have no update. i am not in new carrollton anymore. i'm staying in chevy chase because i can't be at that house. not even a courtesy to let us know if we could stay when the house is semi surrounded by live wires. very, very unfortunate. and just not a good sign of business and even any regard for your customers. >> it's upsetting me a lot it's taken this long. i think a lot of people agree with me. and i think they should do something about it. it should never take this long to get power back. >> we're wondering when pepco is going to finally put the lines under grounds. i know it'

he notified pepco. but that didn't stop the power company from reenergizing those power lines this morning. >> it started arking through the cars and once the tires were on fire, it spread throughout the cars and at this point, they are both burned to a crisp. g he and his wife, his grandmother, and cats got out safe. now, they are furious with pepco. >> honestly, i'm very upset. i think they created a very dangerous life threatening situation by turning on power lines. >> i tried to get some answers from a pepco employee that showed up to investigate. >> i would prefer not to say anything. >> you don't want to say anything? >> this could have killed someone. >> pepco is still investigating. andrew has his own theory about what happened. >> they may have rushed things more than they should. >> in silver spring, kristin fisher, 9news now. >> it is just that lapse in communication that has pepco customers frustrated. we heard countless stories of people being told their power is back on, only to be sittin

there's a huge communication breakdown with pepco. pepco just told me yes, in fact, their robocall script is misleading and here's some of the reactions of the people i talked to today at that protest parade. in cabin john residents marched with patriotically themed protest signs during the annual 4th of july parade down macarthur boulevard, give me liberty or give me pepco? >> we just got an e-mail saying that the power had been restored in cabin john. half of cabin john is still out. doesn't make sense, does it? >> reporter: nearby in the green acres section bethesda residents have taken to posting signs to direct crews into the neighbor. >> we've been told multiple times it actually is back on and there isn't a problem and there's never been a work crew that's even come to look at it. >> reporter: the signs may have worked. a pepco scout showed up shortly after they went up. so that's what it's down to this 4th of july. you got people carrying signs and one of the reasons is they just have absolutely. >> confidence that their phone

we pressed pepco and asked tough questions. how do you deal with this potentially catastrophic public relations issue right now that profits are ahead of service for pepco? its president offered a bleak assessment of the restoration plan. 90% of its customers should have electricity by friday, july 6th at 11:00 p.m. >> we didn't bring down all the wires. we didn't bring down all the trees. what our responsibility is, is to restore service to our customers. >> as rates go up, certainly we expect better service. >> it's an event outside of our control. if there was a neglect issue, a maintenance issue, but certainly we cannot control mother nature. >> reporter: tonight, even maryland's governor was stepping up the pressure, pushing for at least the majority of pepco's customers to have power. >> and nobody will have their boot further up pepco's back side than i will to make sure that we get there. >> reporter: again, pepco says it will have power restored to most of its customers by friday night at 11:00 p.m. the company's next

we have seen pepco crews. another surprising thing, which is that a lot of the folks that you would expect to be punching pepco at this point with all this heat and humidity and no power, well they are actually saying hold on, let's give it a little more time before smacking the utility for poor performance. >> can't do anything until pepco comes through? >> even the verison guy was waiting on a pepco crew. people across the region are showing remarkable patience. brad's next door neighbor lost his home to a tree. so he's willing to offer pepco a break. >> they are doing the best they can. i mean, it's a tough situation. there's a tree on a house. >> is it too early for you to judge their performance? >> it is too early. >> montgomery county council president, roajer berliner has been one of pepco's fiercest critics. he's willing to wait and see on this storm. >> i think one of those is their efforts to acquire additional crews. when did they make that effort? get other utility systems. >> the maryland public

he notified pepco, but this morning pepco reenergized those power lines. >> it started arking through the cars which initially set the tires of the car on fire and once the tires were on fire, it spread throughout the cars and at this point, they are both burned to a crisp. >> this was exactly what and andrew has been afraid of. he and his wife, his grandmother, and four cats all got out safe. now they are furious with pepco. >> honestly, i'm very upset. they created a very dangerous, life threatening situation by turning on power lines. >> especially since andrew says he told pepco about the downed lines about the storm. >> we spoke to pepco inspector yesterday afternoon and told him of the situation. >> montgomery county fire crews responded within minutes. it took crews twenty minutes to deenergize the lines. >> if there is somebody near those power lines, they could have been lek tri cuted right away. >> i tried to get answers from a pepco employee who showed up to investigate. >> i prefer not to say anything. >> this could have killed someone. both montgomery fire and pepco are i

a somerset councilmember rallying fed up pepco customers in marry. >> "pack up pepco" is a strong, but also a cry for change. the song's author joins us now to talk about it. this is really people waking up with power this morning after the most recent storms, but the song was borne out of frugs race after the during etch owe, right? >> this was the straw that broke the camel's back. >> but i did experience six days without power, and got quite heated and angry about it. >> and creative in the meantime. you turned to music to try to spread the message, as had a happened so many times throughout history. i know there's a big meeting tonight. you'll be there. you're trying to rally the folks in an effort to try to get some changes done. one proposal is to try to levee fines against utility companies like pepco. how do you do something like that with companies simply raising the rates to cover the cost of the fines? >> one thing we're asking, the second point is to levee significant fines, and maryland -- a maryland senator has made a proposal that the fine be $1 hundred million that come

underground. >> john, of time this comes up pepco and a few others say -- every time this comes up pepco and a few others say it would be terribly expensive and create problems of it's own, but after what we've been going through, i'm almost to the point of saying let's pay the money and take our chances, certainly can't be much worse than what we've got now. maybe you've got your own answers. share them with me at mailbag@wusa9.com. that is it for our report. i'll be back here at 11:00 with anita brikman and anny hong. have a great evening. bye bye. >>> now, "entertainment tonight," the most-watched entertainment newsmagazine in the world. >>> katie out with suri in new york. the new photos today. tom back in l.a. when was the last time he saw his daughter? their fourth of july apart and when will he see her next? >>> "e.t.'s" fall television preview. the biggest new stars. the hottest new shows. >> you've been warned. >> the cliffhangers secrets from your current favorites. who will return for the next season? plus, the new time slot battles and the network's biggest risks. and "the x

i also been reported that pepco's lobby -- it's also been reported that pepco's lobbyists have visited the d.c. council members more than 100 times last year alone. >> has the public service commission done its job? >> no. >> the maryland public service commission even fined pepco $1 million for past performance. we have heard nothing remotely resembling that level of vigorous regulatory oversight in the district of columbia. >> we've put in calls to the public services commission and to chairman betty an king. she got back to us a short time ago and says it's true, pepco has not been fined by the public service commission but she says pepco since 2005 hasn't violated any of the city's rules or regulations. >>> it's the 9th of the month. don't forget to remind your buddies to do their monthly breast op exams and schedule a mammogram if it's time. if breast cancer is found, what are your chances of a recurrence of the disease down the road? will you need chemo? lots of questions and there are tests available to answer. that this one is called onco type dx and our buddy jc hayward had it

a report from pepco to the pse is due in three weeks and regulators who fined pepco $1 million in december for poor performance will go from there. >> our post storm analysis can be and will be detailed penetrating. >> reporter: this is all happening as the public service commission is about to, get this, rule on a rate increase request for pepco of $66 million. that decision is expected july 13th in. baltimore scott broom, 9 news now. >> doug bazarian said the most recent storm with no name did more damage than hurricane irene last fall. >>> we spent much of date crunching numbers and we'll tell you who had the fastest restoration times in our area and who was bringing up the area. investigative reporter russ ptacek spent time a these numbers. >> pepco sent us new numbers which we haven't had a chance to review yet, but according to our analysis based on the news releases over the past few days, pepco did come in last place in our analysis day after day. they just didn't compare as well as the others. as crews fought through trees and debris, pepco didn't provide data for restorations for

lots of questns abobout pepco's performance. let's take a quick break. pepco when we come back. whoever said that "less is more" is more or less mathematically challenged. less isn't more, it's less. and the only thing more than more is a lot more. which is exactly what i ge at embassy suites. more space... more down time. more e family time. more me time. more me time. more me time. because the more more i have, the more i have to have... more. [ female announcer ] more room. complimentary drinks. free breakfast. embassy suites. get more. >> after a week that saw aot of power outages in thee washington area, w we are back with d.c. mayor ncent gray you we one of many who said that pepco would try to have the power back on by friday, and that was an acceptable. why did you call that estimation unacceptable? >> we continue to treat this as ju a problem. we have not addressed the problelem. i have said this publicly. it is time for a game changer to look at how we move forward with creating a situation where we are not susceptible to power outages. my game change woulde let's talk

but pepco or is pepco doing everything it can to get the juice flowing? we'll get to that in a moment. first, though, the latest power outage numbers. pepco is reporting about 12,000 outages in dc. 68,000 in mopt county and 111 -- montgomery county and 11,000 in prince george's. bge reporting 53,000 in montgomery county and 10,500 in prince george's county. dominion virginia power is reporting 47,000 people without power in northern virginia and smeco is reporting 1900 outages in prince george's county. in a press release issued by pepco earlier today, the utility says it's mobilized some 3,000 people to help get the lights back on. 1830 are field restoration crews. 7 hub power line personnel from out of state, 450 tree trimming personnel, 400 overheadline contractors, 122 internal line crew members. and 160 internal underground and sub station personnel. now, in that release, only 15% of those 1830 are identified as actual pepco employees. well, last night on 9 news, i spoke with the ibew union leader about a shortage of pepco linesman. >> you tell me th

graham of pepco. we're also being told some of the crews coming in from out of town as far as georgia are also starting to arrive in the staging area for those trucks over at the montgomery county fairgrounds. once again the trucks are now starting to come a lot more -- become a lot more visible. we've been getting inundated with a lot of facebook posts, tweets, e-mails and phone calls, people asking where are these trucks? i asked tom graham that same question and he said the trucks have been working behind the scenes, but this is about the time where we'll start seeing some of these trucks putting up the lines and hopefully restoring some of that power soon but again it's going to be a long time before the majority of the area gets their power back projecting 90% of customers will get their power back by friday. >> pepco is now reporting about 336,000 customers in the dark, most in montgomery and prince george's county and d.c. andrea mccarren is live from northwest with their story. >> reporter: i

still can't get pepco out. taking out part of her home and totalling a car. >> this room was more of the kitchen/great room area. on the other side, we've had damage to the porch area, our porch area is gone, the patio has had damage. in the widewood manor neighborhood, two trees took out power lines. when pepco crews arrived here to assess the situation, the first thing they had to fit out was how to get to the pole. >> they told my nib here that it would probably be three to five days just to get the street power on, and then probably ten days until they get the houses hooked up. so we'll just have to wait and see. >> reporter: a final note. we travel around montgomery county in our live truck, and a woman came up and saying, are you pepco? we can tell you that pepco crews will be warmly welcomed when they do arrive. that's the latest in montgomery county. chris gordon, news4. >> what a letdown when they found out it was you. >>> montgomery county executive ike legget got a good look at senior centers. genera

pepco's time line to restore power is not good enough. something that the county executive in montgomery county said as well. >> we can't say it enough. if you come to an intersection and there's no power, treat it as a four-way stop. let's get to monica in the traffic center. she has more on the roads. >> i'm glad i'm not the only one telling people that. that's exactly what you need to do. if you are planning into montgomery county, you'll have between 200, 240, 250 signal lights. fairfax, ant 80. and the district about 55. so, patience again. you're going to need that. i know it's still hot outside and tempers are flairing. so try and be nice when you approach an intersection, give way to the right. now we'll take you over to a couple of problems around town. first of all, if you have planning to head into virginia, you have the gw parkway. i'll get to that in a second. first, let me tell you that hov restrictions are lifted through tuesday on 66 only. you do have hov restrictions on 95. 395, and 66 outside the beltway. also now, the g

pepco is making better progress. the utility company said as of today, it's restored 90% of the outages, that is two days earlier than projected and friday is now the goal to get everyone back on paul wagner is live in silver springs where some people are not too sure about that, though. paul. >> reporter: laura, two days ago, we came to this chevy chase neighborhood off of east- west highway and found this. a huge tree down across blaine drive and nothing has changed since friday night. can you see the tree is consuming this home here on blaine and there is even a car underneath all of these branches. neighbors tell us the tree cutters have come and told them that they can't do anything until pepco does something with the lines. they say pepco has come and said they can't do anything until the tree is cut down. this is just one they should, one of many that we found where people are desperate for relief. this is just one of several panted signs greeting linemen from del marva power as they arrive to survey the damag

a pepco scout showed up shortly after they went up. >> has anybody here today? >> we've got trees here. >> hallelujah. >> yeah, hallelujah indeed. >> reporter: i've spent a lot of time with pepco on the phone this afternoon. they admit there is a problem in one of their automated scripts with these return phone calls that go back to residents. they say the script says, "the power to your area has been restored." that's one of the phrases in the script. they admit that that does not mean the power to your residence has been restored. it means to your area has been restored. they say it's clear it has caused confusion. it's a mistake and they're going to try to fix that script as rapidly as possible. on the other side of it, the one thing i came away with talking to pepco today is that it does not hurt to call, call and then call again after that because as they're making repairs, they need to know if they've missed a couple spots and the only way they know is if you call them. so don't be shy about it. get back on the phone if your power is still out. reporting l

>>> we know you want to hear from pepco. we hoped to bring you that interview but we are still waiting. we hope to get that to you before the end of the show. >>> our time 6:17. still ahead a big vote on metro's silver line project in west virginia. >>> four decades ago the majority of americans did one of these things. is it drive a stick shift, change their own flat tire or write a letter? >> facebook friends james and molly write hands down, drive a stick shift. the question does not say pen a letter and i doubt the percentage has changed that much on changing tires. >>> keep the guesses coming. we have the answers at 6:49. we'll be right back. with no added sugar. just one glass equals two servings of fruit. very "fruit-ritious." or try ocean spray light 50, with just 50 calories, a full serving of fruit, and no added sugar. with tasty flavors like cranberry pomegranate and cranberry concord grape, it's like a fruit stand in every bottle. [ splashing ] just, you know, demonstrating how we blend the fruits. ahem. try all

pepco tells us, they promise us 90% of the customers have their power back. that leaves 10% still miserable, hot, and frustrated. we'll have more on the stories tonight at 10. the news edge at 11. in the meantime, stay safe out there. see you back here tonight. e to

>>pepco is facing more scrutiny following the storm. tonight the president is answering some tough questions about the company's performance. rebecca cooper talked with them. she is live in the newsroom with more. >> it is the same outrage we heard following previous outages. consumers were frustrated with pepco and other utilities. they earned their reputation based on previous performance. they insist they have made major improvements in the past year. >> this home owner says he wants pepco to pay for his losses. but i am thinking i may have lost $5,000 in one week. >> one vocal critic mayor vincent gray -- >> the lost food, lost productivity, the cost of being associated with that. my power was out for days. >>pepco's daily performance ranked that one of the worst in the nation for reliable service. they pointed at their five-year improvement plan. they said their overall performance has improved. >> right now we are looking at improvement of 1500%. >> critics contend the numbers are inflated. they challenge that pepco the locker mak

i think they have been a lap dog to pepco. we have workers saying that they are shedding crews we have people saying that they are adding crews. we have pepco saying that they were quick to go it outside sources when they needed help. there is a question about how quick they were. there are issues about we med with pep yo officials face to face and they said that this storm was entirely a matter of trees. i'm not so sure about that. part of it was the substandard equipment that may have been involved. there is no way to know that unless we have access to the under lying document >> reporter: let me wrap up with this. internally, a lot of pepco folks tell me they feel like they are getting beat up. it's easy to pile up on them when the chips are down. they feel as parts of their reliability plan, they have been doing a better job and have been reporting them. you don't believe them? >> you know what it is, you go for five years, seven years. they are in the bottom quartile. they have plans to do better, but it does not happen.

here in montgomery county it's 96,000 pepco customers still in the dark. in prince george's county it's a little more than 42 now. part of the problem, look behind me here, some wires dangling, the utility pole leaning over. this is a neighborhood in kensington still in the dark. that house has a generator going and some lights, but look on the sidewalk in front of the house. 72 hours after this storm passed through here take a look. the top of that utility pole is still there on the sidewalk. pepco contractors are trimming trees away from downed line as long bell belfry road in silver springs to start repairing the wires. >> we had to take basically and drop everything down about 3 feet to get into some good wood and it's just about where we want it. >> reporter: ruben heidelberg and his fellow linemen from a new jersey company are rewiring another silver spring neighborhood. this fallen tree is the culprit. linda and others glad to see the work finally being done. >> hopefully it's a matter of minutes. >> reporter: the henry family is camping outside the

pepco is reporting more than 243 customer without power. dominion vince, more than 152,000 without power in northern virginia. b guest says in montgomery, prince george's, anne arundel and howard counties there are more than 9 #,000 outages. -- bge says in montgomery, prince george's, anne arundel and howard counties, there are more than 90,000 outages. >> not a good day for that. >> yesterday, our temperature was 99 degrees. today, a little bit of improvement and our temperatures will only be in the mid-90s and a little less humidity than yesterday. >> it helps a little. >> it would help more if everybody got their electricity back. you can seat shower activity and thunderstorms. we did have some move through during the overnight hours. our friends across the lower eastern shore getting in on that. not a great start at the beach although i think that will be out in an hour or two and if you are watching down in ocean city this morning or bethany beach, you should see some sunshine during the day and a little cooler than what we're getting

the county council call for a briefing from the head of pepco. the briefing turned into a lecture from the politicians. >> community activist from a number of neighborhoods helped to pack the council chamber to send a message. >> we have a failing infrastructure and we need somebody to respond to this. >> a couple of dozen people showed up for the post storm briefing. the citizens were not permitted to speak but the head of the public service commission and the president of pepco did here strong words from the politicians in the room. >> the problem is pepco's set of values. valley's their shareholders and executives and other customers. >> do not give them a rate increase. >> both men said they understand the criticism but shot back that oversight from the public service commission and performance from pepco are improving. he climbs the utility is getting more reliable but nobody can plan for a ratio. >> it with the frustration is of our customers. i also know that an overhead system cannot withstand that kind of force. >> mostly they want actio

. >>> pepco is probably arguably the least popular company around here these days. people are demanding it do more to prevent the outages like over the million we had last week. that includes a d.c. council woman who wants to require more power lines go underground. it's a debate happening today at the wilson building. delia goncalves is there live with a preview. good morning, delia. >> reporter: good morning, andrea. the wilson building will be very active today. this last null day of the legislative session before the council breaks for the summer. and there will be no question that something certainly has to be done about these long- standing pepco power outages but the question, is burying the lines the best solution. mary cheh says it's one solution albeit a costly one but legislation would require that co. pay for -- that pepco pay for it. >> each time we have situations like this, there will be some nashing of teeth and pepco will say we have a new program and we have a two-year program, three-year program but it never seems to change. the thick that stays t

pepco has more than any of the other utility companies. in some neighborhoods hit hard by the storm, nothing has changeed since that storm hit on friday. lines and trees are still down and no work is done. the frustration gets worse when some home owners call pepco to check on the restoration efforts. the power is still out, but you wouldn't know it by calling pepco. according to-- . >> according to pepco, this is all repaired and power has just been restored. >> that must have sent steam out of your ears. >> yes, it did because i said who -- how many people does it take to lie about this. how many people are lying to us? he said we have a record that everything has been restored. what worries me most of all is that we really have a 19th century infrastructure but we're paying 21st century prices. >> reporter: pepco said the reason for this misinformation is that the feeder lines in these areas have been restored and it's aught -- its automated system assumes the power is back on for the entire area when, in fact, there can be pockets wher

now pepco crews are starting to pop up in our neighborhood. off beach expeaf montgomery drive, crews have been working since early sunday morning. pepco president tom graham says until now their fleet of trucks and crews have been working on critical infrastructure. in other words electrical sub stations, hospitals, fire houses and police stations. >> 16 of our sub stations were out of service. we had to work on a supply line going into them because a tree knocked them out of service. >> reporter: despite that explanation pepco was taking heat from angry customers who believed utility dragged its feet in response to a power outage. >> reporter: it has been going on for a long time. we lived here almost 30 years. >> we have people from florida, missouri and georgia and also crews from canada. we are doing everything we can right now. >> reporter: pepco's friday night target date to fully restore power, they are saying is not acceptable. >>> we start 9news 6:00 a.m. with the latest on the epic storm aftermath. this is going to be a long week. >>

pepco has the largest number of outages in the region. crews were trying to clean up the trees so pepco can make repairs. tens of thousands still have no power six days after this storm, and with this heat, we learned firsthand some tempers are flaring. >> blood sucking exploiters. these all you are. >> stay away from me. >> no, stay away from me. you're on my street. >> this is a county street. >> no, no, you're on property here. taking advantage of a neighbor's tragedy. >> i'm not a frustrated kind of guy. i know the guys are working as hard as they can to get it done, so i don't really blame the crews. >> we're lucky. we had minor damage to the house. nobody was hurt. it's just a major inconvenience. i'd like to think pepco is working as hard as they can. we have nice folks from florida light and power in our neighborhood, which is encouraging. >> reporter: some cases pepco has reported power restored to home when it's not. the utility says when a major feeder line is fixed it's automated system reports everyone in the area has power,

pepco and clay anderson should be ashamed. after every storm, i thank god that i don't have pepco. kim, the good news is that family's power is back on. but a lot of people are feeling the same frustrations you're talking about, including david who has written us from a town called, my ipad. it's a new day when they surpass the combined efforts of auralling county board and the governor's office, still out of power failed. then, there was this from dan in rockville. i am tired of hearing all the talk about what a poor job pepco is doing after the worst storm in years. have these people left their neighborhoods and seen the massive amount of damage that was left by the storm in i think pepco is doing a great job restoring power and their tree trimming efforts probably lessoned the damage. and yes, the power was out in my area for many hours. you know what? i think it's obvious, pepco is overwelmed by the sheer magnitude. to my mind, the far larger problem for the power company, customers have simply lost the faith. they don't believe it when pepco says we're doing the best we can. w

pepco reporting tonight more than 335,000 customers out. novec, more than 5,000 people are without power and smeco reports more than 10,000. utility companies say it could take up to a week to restore power to all of their customers and to help restore power to the region. utility crews from across the nation are coming in to help. between today and tomorrow, more than 1,000 out of state power crews are expected to arrive. in the meantime, officials in maryland are pushing back against pepco saying there are far too many people still without power. darcy spencer joining us from w the latest on that. >> reporter: we're on edmonston road. this is where you can see a lot of utility companies. there were three trees that fell on to the powerlines. we're told by neighbors that the crews have been out all day long. it affects several hundred people. today, there were strong words from the governor and montgomery county's executive. pepco officials say it's going to take at least seven days to restore power to thousands of people who lost it in fr

pepco reports just 414 outages and bge has 185 people out in prince george's county. >>> last week pepco was public enemy no. 1 as people spent days sweltering with no power after that derecho and now some in montgomery county are pushing to part waves with the utility. >> reporter: i'm andrea mccarren in rockville where the montgomery county council president was extremely critical of pepco's recent performance. >> pepco's performance on every level was unacceptable. >> reporter: berliner says pepco needs to hire more linemen immediately. >> i've been told by numerous sources that pepco has only between 120 and 130 linemen full time. >> reporter: that makes it harder for pepco to get aid from other parts of the country. >> if you are not able to provide resources to them, then you get less in return. so we do get less crews because we have less to offer. >> reporter: storm debris across the area serves as a reminder of what happened and what's likely to come again and so montgomery county plans to ask the state legislature for permission to seek public power elsewhere, an issue that wou

performance. >> pepco's performance on every level was unacceptable. >> reporter: berliner says pepco needs to hire more linemen immediately. >> i've been told by numerous sources that pepco has only between 120 and 130 linemen full time. >> reporter: that makes it harder for pepco to get aid from other parts of the country. >> if you are not able to provide mutual assistance to them, then you get less in return. so we do get less crews because we have less to offer. >> reporter: storm debris across the area serves as a reminder of what happened and what's likely to come again. so montgomery county plans to ask the state legislature for permission to seek public power elsewhere, an issue that would be ultimately decided through a referendum. andrea mccarren, 9 news now. >> one good thing about our most recent round of storms, it helped break our string of days with temperatures above the 95- degree mark, many in the hundreds. topper is on the terrace with more on the forecast. >> it is really nice now. the frontal system is to our south. we're getting a fantastic evening, fredericksbu

a pepco scout showed up shortly after they went up. >> hallelujah. >> reporter: this afternoon a pepco spokesperson admitted to me that the automated callback robocall script they use to talk back to customers can be misleading and they are in the process of changing that script. in cabin john scott broom, 9 news now. >>> at last check as we told you the number of customers without power in northern virginia stood at more than 15,000. dominion power views have been getting into residential streets, but even some high priority cases are waiting for power still. consider this high rise building for senior citizens in reston. the new property manager is trying to do what she can in a building where many elderly residents have medical conditions. >> i think we're all frustrated, but looking at the big scheme of things for those people that can't get out and see the damage. >> what sometimes complicates getting power back on for the last remaining customers is crews have to get to homes in remote areas. >>> many summer school programs start back up tomorrow, but some schools are still witho

how fed up with pepco are folks there? the county council plans to ask the state for permission to get the electricity from someplace else. today account president briefed reporters on his assessment of pepco's response to the recent power outages. >> pepco's performance on every level was unacceptable. the length of the outages, the appalling communications, the computer glitches and datadistortions. >> he also said pepco absolutely must hire more linemen. if you have some choice words for the utility, here's your chance. montgomery county will hold public hearings in the pepco's performance july 19th. >>> two people are still recovering from serious injuries tonight after a vicious storm tore through a northern virginia town. in fredericksburg, 15 girls were practicing their cheerleading stunts yesterday inside that building as the micro burst unleashed its fury. the teens say they saw the building start crumbling around them. when the owner of cheer fusion made a decision that may have saved lives. >> i saw the funnel c

however, pepco as i said is making headway. it makes you this i that perhaps when they told us friday the 6th would be restoration day, maybe they were trying to ease the blow, i guess, because it seems like they are days ahead of schedule. so maybe it'll be a nice surprise when we get our power earlier than expected. mike, back to you. >> which might be considered unprecedented. thanks, delia. at least he had a bit of a chuckle. >> and a real shock for those in dominion, virginia to have an increase in the number of people going back up. it's crazy, right? >>> right now, d.c. police are looking for a killer. someone shot two people earlier this morning on morton street northwest. one of the victims was shot in the back. he later died from his injuries. the other victim was shot in the face. >>> one man died after the night on gallatin street near new hampshire avenue. authorities say two men and two teenaged boys were hurt. investigators are looking for three men in connection with that shooting. >>> so you can add charles cou

this man does not believe it. >> knowing pepco, it will probably be another week. >> pepco says their crews have been working around the clock since friday to restore power to thousands across d.c. and maryland and have called for extra help from as far as a wayaway as texas. and texas 92-year-old morris clark says that his health and his patience is weakening. >> it's getting worse every day i and i'm getting weaker each day. the service gets worse every year. >> d.c. mayor vincent gray says -- >> the irony is pepco has a request for a rate increase. >> residents in the district tell us in the past several months pepco has been cutting down and cutting back trees to try to stop this from happening. those same residents say they are very frustrated because even though some of the trees have been cut, the power is still not on. reporting live in northwest, jummy olabanji. >> outages creating a domino effect as many traffic lights are still out of. that makes the commutes' even longer and more frustrating for drivers. john gonzalez is in bethesda with more on that part of the story. >>

council today involves pepco. council woman cheh is introducing another bill which would force the utility to lay more power lines underground making them less vulnerable to storm damage. delia goncalves is live at the wilson building with more. we heard this before. it's going to be costly but hey, when do we start if we don't start now, right? >> reporter: exactly. what's what mary cheh is saying. i know the process will be long, costly and annoying for many residents here in the district as they're digging up all over the place, but she says we have to start the conversation now if we really want to see any improvements in regards to our power outages when it comes to pepco and these storms. thousands of d.c. residents were in the dark for several days following last week's wind storm that knocked down those overhead wires. a council member says burying some of those lines, at least in some neighborhoods here in d.c. would solve the problem but it's just one solution she says. she's also called on the public se

i don't offer that man for another you can have and you have pepco who's who's c.e.o. they're just making basically what's going to become is because they are so secure about the state of maryland they're just paying their executives ridiculous amounts of money and they're not actually investing in infrastructure the way they should any official company should know that seventy mile per hour winds may come through at one point and you should have a response time that's that's effective when your neighbor isn't part of that response time what mike was talking about having having an infrastructure a human infrastructure yes absolutely but that human infrastructure could include actually bringing in workers from other states what they've done what tepco has done is they don't even care about the timetable they're delaying the timetable on repairing because they like we don't have to rush people in which is which is why we solved this is a good people in from out of state but it still took them three days to get going not to the extent that you saw dominion power and balti

power lines, but pepco refused. now they're sitting in the dark and while they're grateful that no one got hurt in the neighborhood, they say they got hit twice. they had trouble from the storm that hit the week before. >> they didn't realize we had a double. there are people that had two oak trees down, one one week and one the other. some people never did recover from the first storm. >> now there are a little more than 42,000 people in the region without power. repko is reporting just under 30 -- pepco is reporting just under 39,000 of those. >>> eight fairfax public county schools and centers are closed tomorrow because they don't have power. the list is on your screen. montgomery county schools are without power as well. the district plans to post a new list on its website tomorrow morning of closed schools. >>> july 4th turns violent in northwest d.c. four people shot on first street northwest near the fort totten area. two victims are underage. police are still looking for the gunmen, fox 5's audrey barnes li

robert jackson says he does not believe it. >> knowing pepco, it will probably be another week. >> pepco crews have been working around the clock since friday to restore power to thousands across d.c. and maryland. they have even called in for extra help from as far away as texas and florida. but without his air-conditioner and temperatures soaring, 92- year-old morris clark says -- >> each day is making me a little weaker. >> and his patients -- >> every year the service gets a little worse. >> mayor vincent gray of d.c. visited neighborhoods and echoed the outrage of his citizens. >> the irony is pepco has a request for rate increase before the public service commission. >> there's going to be another hot day to day. d.c. officials are urging residents that if you don't have power or air conditioning, take advantage of one of several cooling centers around a city. jummy olabanji reporting from northwest. >> you heard what some of the people had to say. joining us live is the president of pepco thomas graham. >>thanks for joining us. >> my pleasure. >> crews are working. give us an upda

pepco has all but ruled out undergrounding up until now, despite pleas for it. as hundreds of thousands were sweating without their flights, our bruce johnson was pushing pepco's president live on the air the day after the storm hit. >> it would take ten-plus years to do that type of project. >> okay. >> the cost would go into the billions, and the question is, do our customers have the appetite to absorb that type of cost. >> a 2003 maryland study indicated underground cabling lasts only 30 years, compared to 50 years for overhead wires. it takes longer to fix and is not immune to flooding or lightning strikes. >>> it may well have been your anger that caused pepco to evaluate burying its lines. that's not the only utility issue many of you are sounding off about. >> reporter: your anger and online comments about pepco and bge being allowed to charge you for revenue they lost when they couldn't bill you during the storm? your outrage is being heard loud and clear, and it could change the law. that is so unfair, summed it up for many, including maryland state se

pepco is reporting more than 130,000 still in the dark. dominion virginia has more than 82,000 offline in northern virginia. bge says montgomery, prince george's, anne arundel and howard counties have about 61,000 without power. >> you get up andhood out on to the roads and lights are still out. that is a big problem. but than on top of that, the heat. we had a little bit of a break yesterday, a little. but today, is it back? >> up to 95 yesterday. >> i know. >> here is the change from yesterday. the humidity will be back. we got a little break from the humidity yesterday. today, it will be hot and humid. >> we get both. >> yeah, it's back. >> that is not good for the people who don't have power and ac. >> thank you very much. i'm getting irritable. i hauled water like i lived in remote siberia yesterday down the street from a neighbor so i would have water in the house. >> a lot of people are getting tired of it. >> 78 in washington. 70 in baltimore. 70 in one chester. so temperatures, if you are in the mountained or down to the ocean, oc

pepco reporting 7200 customers are still without power. more than 6500 of them are in montgomery county. and almost 500 in dc. >>> as pepco works to restore power to all of its customers, it is also planning to raise its rates, something in the works before the storm. >>> next week the maryland public service commission is going to decide whether or not to improve a rate increase that pepco wants. scott broom talks to the commission chair about this whole thing. >>> maryland's chief regulator said today pepco may not get all that it wants. >> pepco had not been maintaining its system to the level we expected. >> reminding reporters they have pepco's number that regulators fined the company a million dollars in december for poor performance. and now that the p.s. e, is considering a rate increase for pep oh, the -- pepco, the real punishment may be yet to come. that is because this commission has the bower to -- the power to dock the rate increase request. to claw back profits from previous increases that should have been spent on reliabili

the majority of pepco outages remain in montgomery county. one community in rockville is trying to manage without ac and still enjoy the fourth. darcy spencer looks at how they're trying to beat the heat tonight. they must be miserable. >> reporter: they certainly are. pepco says they restored 90%, but what about the 10%. many of them are in montgomery county. they're hot and frustrated. they want to know when their power will come back on. they tried to make the best of the holiday. today one man says he has given up. he doesn't expect his power to be back on for another week. on the fifth day, let there be a generator. this rockville man spent his morning buying one at home depot. though a power crew is on his street, he still doesn't have electricity. you have given up on the power company? >> completely. yeah. we've been without power five days already. i expect another week. >> reporter: the neighborhood in rockville was hit heart. on every street you see downed power lines, toppled trees, blue tarps covering holes in roof n rooftops. >>

you won't know it by calling pepco. >> according to pepco, this is all repaired and power has just been restored. >> that must have sent steam out of your ears. >> yes, it did. because i said who -- how many people does it take to lie about this? how many people are lying to us? he said we have a record that everything has been restored. what worries me most of all is that we really have a 19th century intrastructure but we're paying 21st century prices. >> reporter: pepco said the reason for this misinformation is a glitch in its automated reporting system when large feeder lines are repaired. it reports all power in that area has been restored. but there might be isolated problems where pockets of customers remain without power and this neighborhood here appears to be one of them. we have a handful of houses right here where the lines are down and are still without power, but we could so that there is power in some of the buildings nearby and some of the houses here as well. so, pockets, again, remain without power and that is where pepco said it is right now. it's trying to get the l

the commission says hey pepco, not so fast. >> pepco had not been maintaining its system to the level we expected. we would disallow the portion of that spending that we thought was attributable to their historic neglect. >> reporter: pepco is also asking, folks, this weekend who have their power to conserve some of the energy, because they are saying the system is stressed. as we are heading into the heat wave we are asking -- they are asking folks to keep their ac at 78 degrees. folks here this chevy chase are hoping they can turn their acs on this weekend. mike, back to you. >>> fingers cross today them. thanks delia. >>> gailgt theres burglary -- gadget thergzburg, -- gaithersburg, ready to celebrate there weekend. food and live music and fireworks that didn't happen, will happen this went. the gates open at 5:00 next friday. >>> cut and paste links into your browser and that will give you an extra layer of security. the easiest way for you to know if your computer has a problem. head to this website dns-okay dot u.s. the site will tell you if you are infected and there is a link

pepco still has 6,800 outages in northern virginia, 538 dominion power customers still don't have power and bge is down to just 560 customers out in montgomery and prince george's counties. >>> of course, that does not mean much for those still in the dark almost a full week after the storm hit. for many the frustration is giving way now to exhaustion over just when the power will be back. >> reporter: i'm andrea mccarren in montgomery county where pepco crews continue to restore power to the remaining 1% of its customers. the tiltons drove around their powerless neighborhood delivering ice and water to those without either. >> being good to people, it feels good. >> reporter: those random acts of kindness have helped sustain the final 1% of pepco customers waiting to have their power restored. >> we expect that it takes time, but this is ridiculous. you know, this is a week now. this is unforgivable. >> i did laundry at a friend's house all day saturday. today was enough. i just was done today and have been very emotional the whole day. >> last night i went from my bedroom upstairs whi