Power Outage Hits Washington DC, Affecting Over 1,100 Pepco Customers

More than 1,100 customers lost electricity in parts of Washington, DC, on Monday, November 2, after a significant power outage struck the Foggy Bottom and downtown areas. The disruption affected 1,176 Potomac Electric Power Company customers, with outages concentrated in neighborhoods located just blocks away from the White House and home to the US State Department.

Emergency crews rushed to the scene after receiving multiple reports of smoke emerging from manholes throughout the neighborhood. One particularly dramatic incident involved a manhole explosion directly in front of the World Bank building. However, the DC government noted that while equipment failure in the utility's power disruption system caused the outage, there was no confirmed evidence establishing that the manhole incidents directly triggered the wider loss of power.

The electrical failure had an immediate impact on George Washington University, disrupting campus operations and bringing local traffic to a crawl as traffic lights became inoperable. GW Information Technology confirmed that the Foggy Bottom Data Center and essential services, such as GWeb and classroom technology, were affected by the disruption.

University officials initially canceled classes until noon and directed affected students to pick up loaner keys at the key depot if they encountered issues entering their dormitories. According to a campus update, classes for the School of Medicine and Health Sciences and GW Law continued both in-person and remotely, alongside operations at the university's regional campuses in Arlington, Alexandria, and Virginia.

Other prominent neighborhood buildings, including Western Market, the World Bank, and the International Monetary Fund, also experienced power losses during the incident. Pepco reported that the probable cause of the widespread disruption was a failure at one of its electrical substations.

Utility crews immediately began restoration work following the equipment failure, though the initial timeline was revised from an expected 11 a.m. restoration to pending assessment. Residents and affected customers were advised to monitor Pepco's official outage map and online reporting systems to track repair times and check restoration updates for their specific locations.