By Mike Tidwell

Here’s the truth about the increasingly painful and widespread power outages in our region: It’s not Pepco’s fault.

The freakishly strong winds of late? Not Pepco. The unprecedented flooding? Not Pepco. The record snow last winter and heat this summer? Not Pepco.

We all want reliable power, but it’s time to stop barking up the Pepco tree and start recognizing the real problem: Our weather is definitely changing. It’s part of a worldwide climate shift, the evidence for which has reached avalanche proportions. Until we come to terms with this weather weirdness, no amount of screaming at Pepco will create a long-term solution.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m no huge Pepco fan. I’ve spent my share of days battling the monopoly’s bureaucracy over bill discrepancies. But when it comes to storm restoration, my lights tend to come back on within 24 hours in Takoma Park. This despite newly intense and frequent storms that longtime residents say defy memory.

Others have lost power for longer, I know, and it’s understandable that the media and politicians are focusing on the easy target: Pepco. Critics mostly point to a study showing that Pepco had placed in the bottom 25 percent among utilities ranked using two major reliability measurements. But that study covered only day-to-day service, not storm restoration. As Montgomery County (Maryland) Councilmember Nancy Floreen says, “The real issue is they (Pepco) are at the bottom percentile on outages when the sun is shining.”

Extreme weather is the problem

But it’s storm outages