Former council member Mary M. Cheh, who led that legislation, endorsed him, and Robinson said McDuffie received an award from the D.C. Environmental Network in 2015 for pushing other renewable energy legislation.
Soaring gas and electricity bills are increasing scrutiny of Democratic mayoral front-runners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan R. McDuffie.
Utility bills are not typically the stuff of brass-knuckle politics in D.C. mayoral races.
But the soaring expense of gas and electricity bills, universally squeezing the wallets of D.C. residents and businesses alike, has lit a fuse in the campaign between Democratic front-runners Janeese Lewis George and Kenyan R. McDuffie, driving brittle political attacks this week and prompting more scrutiny of their records.
The loudest shots rang out last Saturday at a raucous Free DC mayoral candidate forum, where McDuffie, a former D.C. Council member, repeatedly urged the audience to “check the receipts,” insisting he had a more robust record.
“You’ve got a candidate who talks about lowering utility costs and wants to point the finger. She hasn’t introduced a single piece of stand-alone legislation to deal with the problem,” McDuffie said. As Lewis George yelled back, he walked off the stage.
“A receipt I want you all to check is your utility bills these last several months,” Lewis George, who represents Ward 4 on the council, told the audience earlier, blaming McDuffie. “He has stood with Pepco and Washington Gas and not the people of this city.”
The issue is potentially more of a vulnerability for McDuffie, who for nine years chaired the council’s business committee and had oversight of the government body that regulates Pepco and Washington Gas. During that time, the Public Service Commission approved multiple gas and electric rate increases. Still, the D.C. Council as a whole, Lewis George included, took limited action to directly address rising costs.
Neighborhood listservs are clogged with complaints about utility bills, and dozens of D.C. residents flooded a recent council hearing to air their concerns and demand relief. Both candidates promise they would deliver it.
D.C. residents’ average gas and electric bills have each increased about 36 percent between 2024 and 2026, according to data gathered by the D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel, which advocates for consumers and successfully sued the Public Service Commission over the most recent Pepco rate increase.
Bills have gone up for a variety of reasons, not all of which are within the Public Service Commission’s control. The rise of data centers — many in Northern Virginia — to serve AI chatbots and algorithms has sent demand for electricity through the roof. Simultaneously, Washington Gas and Pepco have been undertaking long-term infrastructure projects to upgrade the grid and replace old gas pipes that each cost tens of millions of dollars every year.
The utility commission modified and approved rate hikes for the companies to recover the project costs — passing the bill to consumers.
“My feeling is that the reason why utility rates in D.C. are increasing at such an exponential rate is that the commission has really failed in its regulatory obligation to ensure that the rates are just and reasonable,” said People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye.
Emile Thompson, chairman of the utility commission, defended its oversight in an interview, noting that its members shaved off tens of millions of dollars from infrastructure project requests before approving rate hikes. The commission also recently approved a more targeted approach to replace only the riskiest pipes.
“These huge infrastructure projects we agree are needed for reliability,” Thompson said. “We take a tough look at every rate case. We comb the lines. We figure out where we can cut money.”
The D.C. Court of Appeals recently threw out a two-year, $123 million rate increase for Pepco approved by the commission in 2024, finding that it failed to hold a proper hearing allowing experts to scrutinize the plan. The Office of the People’s Counsel and the Apartment and Office Building Association of Metropolitan Washington, which also sued, are pushing the commission to restore electric rates to earlier levels and refund customers the difference. Thompson said he could not comment on the request, citing pending litigation.
Environmental advocates saw the court’s decision as a major, and rare, victory against utility interests. But some have questioned why the D.C. Council — namely McDuffie — did not push back more forcefully against the hikes, especially given the flaws the court found.
“He provided zero oversight,” said Mark Rodeffer, policy director at the D.C. chapter of the Sierra Club, which has endorsed Lewis George. Its political arm is pouring thousands of dollars into attacking McDuffie on the issue, including pointing to donations his campaign has accepted from Pepco and utility lobbyists.
McDuffie campaign spokesman Derrick Robinson defended the candidate’s oversight as vigorous and said no lobbyist would dictate policy.
Robinson said McDuffie’s track record supports that. He pointed to pandemic-era protections that McDuffie successfully pushed the commission to enact for customers who fell behind on bills, such as deferred payment agreements and longer shutoff notices — which he pledged to make permanent if elected mayor. He also noted McDuffie’s support for major legislation expanding renewable energy production such as wind and solar.
Former council member Mary M. Cheh, who led that legislation, endorsed him, and Robinson said McDuffie received an award from the D.C. Environmental Network in 2015 for pushing other renewable energy legislation.
But Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, which jointly signed the award with the D.C. Environmental Network, said he would not give McDuffie any award today. “From 2015 on, there’s nothing we can see that would warrant anything other than concern from climate change and energy groups like ours,” he said, citing in part McDuffie’s oversight of the Public Service Commission.
