Text Box: April 2007 Text Box: TOWN MAY PURCHASE STREET LIGHTS FROM PEPCO By Dave Chitwood The State of Maryland is enacting legislation ordering Pepco to sell streetlights to local municipalities at a fair market value. Participation by the towns would be purely voluntary. The Maryland Chapter of the Sierra Club supports this bill because of a belief that local communities are more likely to use energy-efficient lighting than utility companies. In anticipation of the passage of the bill, Pepco recently proposed an increase in the fees it charges for street lighting by as much as 40%, according to Councilmember Eve Arber. (The current monthly bill assessed by Pepco for street light power and maintenance in Glen Echo exceeds $1,000.) Alternatively, the Town could purchase the lights from Pepco and pay only the electricity charges. Mayor Beers stated that the cost would be at least $2,000 per light. With the town Text Box: —continued on page 3