Hank Silverberg, wtop.com

WASHINGTON – Since the derecho knocked out power to over a million customers in Washington region, there have been more calls to bury power lines. Now a fed up Pepco customer has started a petition.

The online petition is directed at Pepco CEO Joe Rigby. It asks the utility to spend some of its annual profits to bury power lines, which the petition says would make them more reliable and safer.

The petition says Pepco made $68 million in profit in the first three months of 2012 and the petition asks the utility to commit to a five-year plan to bury power lines.

A study by the non-profit Electric Power Research Institute, which is funded by the utility companies, estimates it could cost $5 million to $15 million a mile to bury power lines.

And a 2003 study by Maryland’s Public Utilities Commission says burying power lines could cost the average customer between $340.00 to $415.00 a year on their electric bill.

As of Sunday morning, there are over 2,100 signatures on the petition.

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