the more utility that you share with her, the more the utility pays her, the more the rates are going up. this could be a good deal. it could be a cheap way to avoid having to improve the distribution effort. it may clean up the air. it may be a temporary subsidy that we put in to help incubate an infant industry. but you are paying for it. >> mark in philadelphia republican caller. good morning. >> caller: good morning. i'd like to readdress the issue of the polls. i appreciate knowing your specialty has been nuclear. my concern about and many people's concern about the nuclear power plant are the systems in place are not redun tant enough and they are dependent upon electricity to produce the fuel or whatever to deliver for the backup generators and cooling systems. this is an issue, and also to let you know the pulses or the sunspot activity was extremely high this past week. extremely high. i'm originally from missouri. and missouri we never got over 100 degrees until the last couple weeks in august. they've had over 100 degrees from june on and i believe it's related to the sunsp

it is pricing, not utilization. utilization is also a contributor. in 2011, the health service system looked at what calpers was doing. is the second-largest provider in the country and they successfully implemented and accountable care organization in sacramento. that is a collaboration between hospital systems and physician groups where they try to work together to bring costs down. it is counterintuitive for the hospitals are paid fee-for- service. hospitals are grappling across the country with how they going to have a revenue stream if they're keeping people out of a hospital? they try to eliminate duplication and better coordinate care. our goal in creating to organizations was to create competition between the two. if you look at this slide, you can see blue shield and accountable care organization one and accountable care organization no. 2. in terms of how we negotiate rates, and this was true for 2013, it negotiates a single rate for both. if you are in the group, you play u.k. pay the same premium. their rate is negotiated with physician g

the bottom line i think for the confidence of states and util y utilities we serve and regulate is the money. making sure that the money is used for what it's supposed to be used for. and that trust that needs to be built with any partnership with the federal government and states and communities that you're going to be dealing with. i think that's huge. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> i'm going to ask one more, just one more question. if my colleagues want to ask another question, they're welcome to. sometimes when we have a panel -- this has been a real good hearing. i appreciate all you all being here and appreciate our colleagues being here. here's my question. one of the things my colleagues may recall, i like to look for consensus. and from a panel. and you all agree on some things and disagree on some things. maybe just start with you, mr. orrell, one major point you think there's consensus from this entire panel. what might that be? >> well, i would say that the general feeling of the time has come to take action. >> okay. dr. metlay? >> my board has written in one of its public

it's hot. >> heat and humidity -- >> utility trucks have remained absent. even worse, these residents have had no help from district leaders or emergency personnel. people like robert and his navy base are simply trying to survive. >> i'm starving, sweating, no ac. can't think straight. >> this is killing me. >> clifton says he has been living off of what few things he has been able to stash into his cooler. >> you can't buy a whole lot of stuff. >> ice and food is hard to come by. and many don't know where their next meal will come from. >> our food has gone bad, so we have no food in the house to eat or feed the children. >> pets are feeling the heat. the owners say they are worried for the well being of these puppies. and now they are concerned the children and elderly. few abandoned their homes and gone elsewhere. many more don't have anywhere to go and they are begging pepco to step up their response. >> you aren't giving us any hope. nothing to look forward to and it's tiresome. >> officials say they have no set time and date when this neighborhood ca

utilities like back -- you guys are brave. utilities have had the same business model and the same basic delivery for a very long time. to recognize and appreciate that your customers could become real partners is a really brave thing to do in an industry that has been understandably risk averse before. we are thrilled to be your partner in that change and to be providing better services and tools to your customers, to give them more control and in doing so, to build a stronger relationship and help them save. the one thing i wanted to thank were our partners. the second group to thank is government. diane is here. she was commissioner on the puc. have beenn 0 fromrdc -- we have people from nrdc. thanks of great regulation -- regulation gets a bad name these days, but when implemented correctly, it can be a phenomenal force for good, and the state of california has led the way. local governments -- this is a phenomenal city to do business in a, a city which has attracted and under the mayor's leadership accelerated the attract

scott broom is in college park with what the utility companies say about that idea. scott. >> senator jim, college park, says maryland has not revisited this underground issue in nearly ten years. if you're a believer in climate change like he is, he says it's time to look again. >> we have known for years that climate change leads to more frequent, more severe, unpredictable extreme weather. we may have noticed that here in washington the last couple of years. >> rosa is demanding that the state's public service commission reopen the under ground electric debate with a new analysis. >> what they haven't looked at, what are the costs to the citizens if you lose $200 worth of food in your refrigerator? if you have to take your mother to stay in a hotel because it's too hot to stay in their house. those are all costs that the utilities aren't counting and that's what i'm asking the public service commission to look at the cost to the public, not just the cost of the utility. >> in 2003, a legislative task force concluded that under ground electric is not all that it se

you can't imagine how many utilities are under there. on some streets you could take off the pavement and walk on the street on the utilities. we are working not only to share these cabinets but also conduits. >> i want to point out the street name. on the sidewalk here. brady. otis is there. on the other side. >> do you know why? >> i know -- i'm an expert on the history of san francisco streets. after the 1906 earthquake and where everything burned no one could find where they were. they passed an ordinance it's the 1906 quake and fire that you have to put the street name in the concrete. if and when we have another major fire you can go to the intersection ask say, oh , i know where i am i'm on brady and otis. >> let's walk on up the street here. we had a question about encroachments we will talk about encroachments as we work our way up the street. one of the first might be this pipe that we see sticking out of the side of the wall of this building. do we consider that an encroachment to the public right-of-way. >> no. because it is

when you have a worldwide economic slowdown, utilities will outperform and duke is the biggest utilityn the united states. there's more to this than the macro. the way i see it while the corporate governance issue that is cropped up last week don't exactly inspire confidence, the fact is utilities pretty much run themselves. the utility business, this isn't like a retailer where the guy at the top can have an enormous impact on how the company does? do i care if mr. rogers has an eye for lek tris i had the way mickey drexler has an eye for clothing? of course not. there's no intellectual fire power involved in running a utility. i don't even know if mr. rogers has a facebook page, no the that i want to go on it. or if he has a smartphone or a dumb one. i don't care. doesn't matter. and while i don't like skulduggery, i'm perfectly happy with rogers as ceo because he's shown himself to be an excellent manager. ever since he took the helm in 2006, duke energy has given you an 88% return. let's get this straight, i don't want to be in the board room with him. it's tougher than being with

two utility companies searched prince georges county.say they have crews working around the clock and are getting help from out-of-state contractors. still, rest ray could take days. >> i have somewhere to stay, i have an air conditioner, it will come back on when it comes back on. >> reporter: on another positive note, some of the businesses have started to reopen, including famous dave's that was mentioned in the piece, a very popular rib place. that has reopened. pepco has said that restoration is going to take at least seven days, what is bge saying? i'm going to have their response coming up on "news4 at 6:00." >>> now to -- ken barking is joining us from dominion. what is the latest on restoration efforts? >> thanks for having me. we're down to about 130,000 customers or so in northern virginia. that equates to about 70% of the customers being restored to service since the peak friday night, but we have a lot of work left to do. i was looking at some of these subdivisions, and we're get a lot of help, but we're having to rebuild th

utility commissioners care because the utilities pass the cost of these fees to their customers through their electric bill. notwithstanding our position on the mrgs handling of the yucca mountain issue, we were closely involved in the work of the blue rib bob commission. we were impressed with the members. the talented staff and the sincere interest in public input. we have asked to maintain and preserve access to the commission website. as for the religions we welcome them all we have the following points. first, reform the nuclear waste fund or reform of the fund is essential for most of the recommendations to occur. next, regardless of yucca mountain we need another 'poz repository. the lessons suggest that consent based sitting approach may get better results but require patience. we find the report vague as to quantity, duration and cost. we're not sure what the effect will be on the fee if the nuclear waste fund is to be used to pay for storage. we agree with the concept and benefits of a new federal corporation that can focus sewly on the waste management mission. we look forwar

spoke against utilities using the order, supporting energy conservation, reimburse utilities where no energy is going through your meter. >> it adds insult to injury to say to a customer, just keep in mind, you lost power for six or seven days. you have thrown out all the food in your refrigerator and being told you are boing to pay extra because you weren't buying electricity, because they weren't delivering any electricity. >> the bill stabilization adjustment eliminated the incentive to restore lost service. but the order did limit the reimbursement to cover only the first 24 hours. prior to that, it was open ended. allowing pepco to get nearly 1.4 million for july 2010 blackout. dell morva more than 35,000. and bge more than $81,000. in a statement tonight, pepco emphasizing that you're not being billed for the electricity you didn't use. consumer advocates say you are being charged for the delivery charge of what they didn't deliver in that power. and tonight, the maryland public service commission is saying that the cost could be just 15 cents, 12 cents, 8 cents a customer. no r

this is the utility business.t like a retailer where the guy at the top can have an enormous impact on how the company does. do i care if mr. rogers has an eye for electricity the way directi drexler has a eye for clothing? of course not. i don't know if mr. rogers has a facebook page or if he's got a smartphone or a dumb one. don't know! doesn't matter! and i'm perfectly happy with rogers as ceo because he's shown himself to be an excellent manager over the years. ever since rogers took the helm duke energy has given you an 88% return. let's get this straight. i don't want to be in the board room with him. it's tougher than being with donald trump. i don't want to be his partner. heck, i don't even want to be in the same swimming pool or play monopoly with the guy but i don't mind him running a monopoly that i can own shares in. this is a nice consistent business, a glorious 4.6% dividend yield. unlike a bond, duke can raise its payout and that's what the company has done every year since 2007. best of all, i thi

. >> 9news is breaking more news on why some local utilities are able to charge you even when you don't have power. investigative reporter discovered the program wasn't intended for following storm outages. instead, it was intended to encourage energy efficiency. >> according to interviews and documents we reviewed, the order that allows this billing was designed to encourage energy conservation to help electrical companies manage the dips in billing when customers use less electricity because of energy conservation. this is the official maryland public service commission order that put the charge into law in january. and take a lock at this wording. right there on the original intent of this payback, it was to encourage utilities for energy efficiency. montgomery county officials were some of very few who spoke against utilities using the order supporting energy conservation, to reimburse utilities when no energy is going through your meter. >> it adds insult to injury. to say to a customer, you lost power for six or seven days. you thrown out all the food in your refrigerator and bein

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 friday night's storms. governor martin o'malley toured the emergency operation center today and said he would stay on the utility company to get the job done. >> under the -- would be able to beat those expectations and nobody will have their boot further up pepco's backside than i will to make sure. >> reporter: but isaiah legett isn't satisfied with the deadline. >> that is not sufficient for me. i will not accept the timetable of july 6th. we are urging them to use whatever resources that are necessary to bring in whatever support that is necessary to bring that timeline down. >> reporter: powerful storms tore through the region knoc

before you dig call usa and get your utilities marked. >> each utility has their own color. >> [inaudible]. >> water department has not been out here to mark it. >> okay we will continue to walk up here. i'm not sure where we will stop. >> one of the big issues we see all over the city are garages where there is a slope down into the garage. here is one of those slopes is this an encroachment ask how do we improve. >> this is an encroachment. >> old building. >> old building and old encroachment. this probably was never approved. >> what is the current standard for allowing to slope the sidewalk. >> current standards we have historic buildings in san francisco and we are getting requests for essentially putting in a garage a basement. based on existing bay windows you might have a beam right here. probably do and >> if they can do it they get a permit. public works code allows to slope 25 percent of the sidewalk width. in this case we have -- >> the sidewalk is not a good wide tth to begin with. >> correct. >> this is 80 percent. >> typically under current conditions, under this existing

at this point, there is no obama grants to cover our utilities. if someone claims they can help you get a grant, it's nothing more than a scam. joce sterman, abc2 news. >> it can also result in late fees, utility shut offs, because victims believe their bills were being paid so they didn't pay them. if this happens to you, the attorney generals office says let your utility company know before you are victimized in the scam. >>> paying more at the local market because of drought conditions throughout the u.s. with corn and crops withering and dieing in the heat, food prices are expected to continue shooting up. >> you have to adjust, the economy is going up. the pay is going down. we have to do the best we can to get through the hard times. put something away for rainy day. >> the usda declared 1300 counties across 31 states across disaster areas. this is something that doesn't appear to be providing relief soon. >> not really. you crunch the numbers and we have 7.67 since january, since june, 1.34, we are a deficit. it's not looking good at all. w

it's caused the utility poles to lean. the power lines and the wires, you can see them cutting through the middle of the roads. so really dangerous. a lot of people coming out for early morning walks and finding this this morning. if you the k. stay home, if you can work from home, that's going to be your best option today because this is going to have you rerouting all over the place. if you use your gps you're going to go from one rerouting plan to the other because of massive trees down in the middle of sberks like this one. and fyi because of the humidity and all the debris that's in the roadways, the mosquitos are out in full force. if you need to slather on an extra layer of repellant this morning, that's going to be a good idea. a friend of mine called me this morning and said, you know, i woke up with a big blaring right in my face and it was welcome news and then it went out again. so power outages still in flux this morning. be patient, folks. crews are out and about. but it is going to take some time. and again,

trees came down, utility poles came down.there is something a little bit unique, this is an old neighborhood and we have ken barker, the vice president of customer solutions for dominion and i have been using his cell phone, you may have it back. it is difficult, as you all know at home, if you are able to watch this, lots of service. tell me about the utility poles and how many went down here. 12, was that right? >> we have about a dozen poles. this is typical was we get back into the subdivisions. large trees take down numerous poles. we are literally rebuilding our facilities. >> reporter: you can see this huge oak tree that crashed. the whole tree came down and took down those lines. what is involved with getting power back? >> first of all, you can hear the chain saws in the back. we have to get the trees off of our lines, untangled. then you can see off to the left, we have poles, and other contractors getting ready to go in. we have to hand carry these back into the backyard. >> reporter: joe martin, our photographer i

they have higher hospital utilization. an example is backed -- is that they have 36.5 admissions per 1000 enrollees for their senior and persons with disabilities population. that is largely because they do a really good job of managing care and getting folks the primary care and preventive care they need before hospitalization occurs. these projections are based on historic utilization. we have used conservative assumptions across the 10 ers. we have projected net change in utilization over the 10-year period of this agreement. this samoa's out pent-up demand. -- smooths out pent-up demand. at the end of the agreement, people will have had regular access to health care and that pent-up demand will go away and utilization will likely go down. keeping it flashed across the 10 years moves those two things out. the cost data was derived from publicly available data that is reported to the state office of health wide planning and development. we projected cpmc's cost to grow at 3.5%, which is faster down the rate of inflation.

we've continued to seek additional resources from other utilities. as you know, this event took place, started out in the midwest pea came across the mid atlantic. at one point there about 3.8 million customers in those regions. with as many as 1 million in virginia alone. we continue to -- the challenge is, with all these utilities being impacted, they need their resources as well so they have not been able to release those in the typical areas we could get resources from. fortunately we've been able to reach out to oklahoma, florida, missouri, georgia, and they have made commitments to bring those resources in. we're looking for them to come on to the system as early as tomorrow. we continue to do outreach for who should em assistance -- mutual assist departments as far away as canada to restore power as soon as possible. we are doing tree trimming to help. we are continuing these efforts and we ask for our cuss merse' -- cuss merse z -- customers' patience. but with this much damage, it will take time. i spent a lot of time over the last couple of

snapped utility poles, downed wires, and a neighborhood of 1400 customers who are getting increasingly fed up with pepco's communication failures. >> it's really frustrating because we don't have power. i wish they would get their act together for that. i am trying to be patient. >> i got a call and the notification on my app that there were no power outages anymore in my area. >> so pam miller and her elderly mother canceled their hotel reservations for the rest of the week. >> i took her back to her house, came back to mine, neither one of us had power. communication in power kills. they are not communicating properly to their public and we need to be dealt with honestly. >> reporter: i just got off the phone with, p epco vice president of customer care. here's how he explained these outages that are being suffered by the neighborhood of silver spring and overs. he says when a piece of equipment is fixed, everyone served by that equipment will appear to be back online. he says those who are still without power are probably experiencing a secondary outage and that will go back into th

this helps prevent underground utility lines from being damaged, striking a single utility line can lead penalties, repair costs, and outages. of course. well, stay with wjz for first warning weather coverage when the storms hit. you can find forecast updates any time on wjz.com. >>> the governor of south dakota says a fourth crewmember has died from this weekend's crash of a firefighting plane. the air force c140 tanker, like the one seen here, went down in the black hills with six crewmembers aboard. the entire tanker fleet was grounded after the accident, but that has since been lifted. the military planes are used because of the numerous western wildfires. one of the most destructive wildfires is the one in waldo canyon, colorado. this incredible video from the colorado springs fire department shows them mobilizing on the ground, as the fire spreads to entire neighborhoods. thousands of people were evacuated. and over 350 homes destroyed. officials say the fire is now 55% contained. most of the evacuees have been allowed to return. >>> time now for a quick look at some of the stories

these officials are calling on maryland regulators to find utility giants -- find the utility giants to set up a reserve fund. later, they will put pepco on the hot seat. >> it was terrible. they did not know whether they were coming or going. they could not make a reasonable prediction. >> earlier this week, pepco did ask for an extension of the rate increase deadline. as for the meeting today the d.c. council meets at 1:00 p.m. the public will have a chance to submit questions. john gonzales, abc 7 news. >> one more note about the storm. some residents of riverdale towers apartment building, damaged by the storm have been allowed to return home. the storm damaged the roof and tuesday's weather left dozens of units with water damage. officials condemned the whole building. authorities say 43 of the 65 apartments are now considered safe. 22 units are still unsafe. >> we are looking at 73 degrees on this friday morning. much more still to come. >> the penn state community is reeling after learning of a cover-up related to the jerry sandusky sex abuse allegations. >> hello. i am with t

companies or let's look at new york city con ed one of the largest utility companies in the country has locked out eighty five hundred you new tildy workers they lock them out last week right is the summer heat wave is about that and they brought in scabs and managers to replace them now just because you have a one you have more competition in the workplace sure we got like a bunch of different corporations you can buy cars off of the you know we have a bunch of different corporations you can buy a lot of different goods often but that doesn't mean they treat their workers better and the big problem of this commie why it's not recovering is that there's not enough buying power folks aren't making enough to go out and buy the things they're making and that's the key to having a successful con and some of the countries that have not been affected by the worldwide recession the crash germany they had occurred are by program where the governments to the employer employers. even though you cut people back from forty hours a week down to twenty hours a week or thirty hours of pay them for

utility companies say it could be the weekend before service is completely restored. traffic lights, they are still out all across the area. metro riders need to know you can expect a longer commute today. all metro stations should be open normally tomorrow in the dc metro area, at least five people have died from storm-related incidents. >>> expect to see out of state utility crews all over the area today. we spotted these utility trucks from north carolina at clear wood road and video boulevard in bethes bethesda. pepco says it's bringing crews in from all over these t. east coast to help with the restoration effort. people across dc are looking for some relief from the heat anyway we can. one woman in the northeast was heating dinner inside the air conditioning in her car. another man inside a vehicle with the air conditioning on. another man told us he sleeps on the porch with his cold cloth on his forehead. most of the people we talked to asked why they're not seeing pepco trucks in their neighborhoodses. >> i know there's been a concern that we don't see a lot o

do people is run realistic expectations of utilities -- have unrealistic expectations of utilities? they don't care there was an 80- mile an hour wind storm. they want their power on. >> we understand especially when it's this hot people getting frustrated and that's why our crews are out there working so hard to get their lights back on. these same people who are out there work having families at home who are in the same boat. so they want to get the power back on for their families, their friends and neighbors and all their customers and we understand that. >> i'm going to put you on the spot, dan. why do you have 50% of your power on and pepco is talking friday? >> i really can't address that. i'm not familiar with pepco and how they go about doing storm restoration. i know we have a system we continue to fine tune of time we have a storm. >> dan, thank you for your time, sir. >>> utility crews arriving in the area from as far away as canada to help reef store all that power. crews from the -- restore all that power. crews from the carolinas and more will arrive sometime tomorrow

we're talking about water, sewer and we all look for ways to save a buck on our utility costs. a recent offer to pay your bills isn't the way this go about it. joce sterman explains in this week males scam alert. >> we all feel the pain by paying our utility bills. if someone offered to cover yours it would be a tempting offer. >> to have a bill taken care of. so they are willing to take a chance, unfortunately. >> reporter: the assistant maryland attorney general said people are taking a chance on a scam. the ag's office has been fielding calls from people who said they have been called, emailed or contacted by someone offering to pay their utility bills. they say it's through a new government grant from the obama administration. >> people are, in some cases paying money to have this done and other cases providing a bank account information or social security information to get this supposed grant which is not real. >> reporter: instead, it's another way to get your money or personal information and you could end up the victim of identity theft if you sign up. the ag's office

we have one of the least reliable utilities in the country. but pepco's management is in denial. >> they will have the final say on just how well pepco did or did not do and they'll hold hearings with all of the state's public utilities in september. last year, if you'll remember, the commission signed the utility a million bucks for poor performance. once again, we have warnings rolling in. topper has that yellow weather alert. who is in the bulls eye now? >> fauquier county. let's get right to live doppler 9000. this storm popped up in the last 30 minutes. this is fauquier county right here and this is culpeper. the storm it is moving off to the north and to the east. we'll zoom in. good deal of hail with this storm. it's right on the border. right around jefferson and this is hail. you see the pinkish, purplish there? that is definitely hail. in fact, we'll pinpoint some of the neighborhoods because this has been growing in intensity in the last little bit. we're looking at hail. this is springs road. okay. and this is chattum court. so rig

the utility is asking for a three-year rate increase to improve its systems. residents and politicians are outraged by this latest request. >> reporter: nearly two years after a pipeline ruptured, causing an explosion and fire that wiped out much of this neighborhood, the utility is now asking the california public utilities commission for a rate increase to improve the safety of its gas and electricity delivery systems. pg&e is requesting rate payers kick in an additional $1.2 billion in 2014 plus an additional half a billion in 2015 and 2016. that would amount to a 5% increase in monthly electrical bills and a 15% increase in monthly gas bills just during that first year, and it would be more going forward. >> it's a joke. i mean, people in northern california suffer for their mess-up. >> reporter: edward is one of the first to have his house rebuilt after it was destroyed in the pipeline explosion. >> half the people have paid more. they should have fixed that problem a long time ago. >> it's not our fault that they deverted those monies and dollars from th

industries i don't think your local utilities are using 99% oe electrical utilities and great britain you use some of the energy in the conversion, but use a little bit and shipping it. the grid does have some aspects when you lose energy, but it also has some aspects or becomes highly efficient, for example, suppose for example in your town, you have, in idaho, and it schooled it's cold in the winter and your pique turns to be on a cold day in your connected by the western interconnection to phoenix, arizona, which does not have the same demand in the winter, it has a summer demand. do you want to build enough generation to meet your worst day, which is weaker-- which is in winter, or you can share these assets, but you both need them, but not at the same time. the grid has some efficiency. >> host: we have another question from a watcher. what is a common myth about the power grid that you would like to clear up here on c-span? >> guest: wanting to understand, especially with the weather we've been having recently, is that most consumers pay a certain price per kilowatt hour. at tha

" utility." a rate hike is ppproved... it would bb the second increase in 20-years. but for all of you shaking your heads... thht were without power for days... there is some ggod news for you.a diitributionncharge has went without powwe... the greater the credii will be on your next bill. 3it'' nnt enough to satisfy state senator brian fosh though.he critized utilities would stop utilities froo charging customers for storm related losses n the future. i'm megan gilliland, fox455 morninggnews. owners... they shouud bb safe pfom eeiccion for the time being... despitt oo reccnn court ruling that abeled the breed as iiherently dangerous. dangerous.the attorney general's office says he because thh court has been .. asked to reconsideerit.the court's deccsion says victimss of pii bull attacks would not need tt prove the dog has aa áhistoryá of violence before mmking a claim.the ruling sparked controverss... prrmpting "state farm inssrance" coopany to ass the court to take another llok at the iisue.unt

utility company person? there a limit in your mind how long a person should be without power? >> well, i think we have to start with the premise that a customer never wants to be out of service, and -- >> but there's a difference between being out of service for one or two days and five or six days. >> well, i can appreciate, that and i can appreciate the frustration of our customers but we're doing absolutely everything we can on a 24-hour basis to make sure those customers, the service is restored as quickly and safely as possible. >> i think one of the frustrations is there's no definite date you can give people that their power will be restored which leaves people like what do i do? do i stay in my house in the intense heat? do i go to a hotel, what do you do because i have no idea when my power is going to be turned back on? >> you know, we're still going through various neighborhoods. the first thing we had to do was secure some of our substations. the supply lines were damaged by trees dropping on the

. >> many are starting to lash out at utility companies. jummy olabanji joins us from northwest washington with what customers are saying. >> we are on jupiter streets off 16th street in northwest washington. the entire street behind us has been without power since the storm hit. a lot of these people say they have been told the power will be coming on in the coming days and they are getting very frustrated. >> it is burning up. if you go upstairs, that is hell. >> the devil is pepco. >> thousands of customers are still without electricity and power companies as it could be several days before it is restored. 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

today, missed utility.ore you dig service, is recommending that you call them at 811, at least two full business days before you start to dig. this helps to prevent underground utility lines from being damaged. >>> for the latest conditions and updates any time, log onto wjz.com. >>> being a woman and having a cat can increase your risk of suicide. mary is in the newsroom with more on what a new study reveals. mary? >> reporter: well, vic, kitty litter boxes could be making women suicidal. that's according to a new report in the archives of general psychiatry. it says a parasite found in cat feces could be the problem. they conducted the study of 45,000 women in denmark, over a three-year period. women infected with the para sight had a 1 1/2-time higher risk of attempted suicide. the study's author make its clear that the study does not prove that the parasite is directly linked to suicide or suicidal actions. vic? >> the study excluded men and women without children. >>> a major milestone for feltilate sp

a warning to those who have to work outside, especially all of the utility workers trying to restore power. >> we are very concerned about the prolonged heat wave and its effect on a lot of the folks here in the mid-atlantic region. >> according to the national weather service, so far since april this year, 18 days of 90 degrees or more. and two days in june of 100 degrees in -- or more. and with those 100-degree days expected to double in the next couple of days, doctors are urging people to be where. >> do not be foolish. >> one doctor says the e.r. is starting to fill up with patients with heat-related illnesses, and said it is vital that people learn the sign of a heat stroke. >> the warning signs are that you can get confused and irrational. >> get plenty of clear liquid, where lewis night -- where loose fitting clothing -- wear loose- fitting clothing. pools and cooling stations are staying open later. believe it or not, that can help save lives. >> i feel like we are doing that out here right now, bern and turn. there's a wealth of information from the city and jurisdiction an

utility officials practiced confirming the situation at local thermal power plants. they also calculated electricity ly forecasts after a possible suspension of power. they used a video conferencing system to simulate how they would monitor the impact on the utility's two nuclear plants in fukushima prefecture northeast of tokyo. >> translator: restoring public confidence is a big challenge. we have to review our old system of emergency crisis management. >> reporter: tepco spokespersons say the utility wants to repeatedly stage this kind of drill. >>> japanese ministers are working on streamlining some of their policies. they held a meeting on monday to discuss a report that criticizes overlapping efforts to promote energy efficiency. the report submitted in november points out three min sfrees are separately encouraging energy-saving measures for homes. notes that several ministries and agencies are also running similar programs to promote geothermal power generation. >> translator: ministries have to coordinate with each other to promote energy saving and renewabl