Pepco Restores Power After Foggy Bottom Substation Failure
Pepco restored power to over 1,100 customers in Washington, D.C., after a substation failure caused outages for government agencies and George Washington University.
A substation failure at the Potomac Electric Power Company (Pepco) I Street Substation caused a widespread power outage in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood of Washington, D.C., on November 2, 2026. The incident affected between 1,100 and 1,176 customers, including the United States Department of State, the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, and George Washington University.
Emergency responders from the District of Columbia Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department investigated reports of smoke emanating from several manholes in the 1800 block of H Street NW. While one resident reported a manhole explosion near the World Bank, authorities did not confirm the claim. The outage forced George Washington University to cancel most of its classes for the day.
Pepco crews remained on site throughout the day to assess conditions and restore service. Power was fully restored to all affected customers by 2 p.m. local time. Although the company stated that the cause of the event remains under investigation, officials noted that no foul play is suspected. The failure occurred one day prior to the 2026 U.S. midterm elections.
