A power outage tied to a problem at Pepco's I Street Substation knocked out electricity to roughly 1,100 customers across Foggy Bottom, sending crews scrambling to investigate smoke pouring from multiple manholes nearby. The disruption also hit George Washington University's campus hard, with more than 70 residential and academic buildings left without power.
D.C. Fire and EMS responded to the 1800 block of H Street NW after reports of smoke coming from multiple manholes, according to DC News Now. Pepco said in a statement that an event at its I Street Substation in the Foggy Bottom area resulted in power outages for approximately 1,100 customers, as reported by PoPville. The utility said the cause of the event remained under investigation.
Pepco crews were on site assessing conditions and working to restore power, with the company saying crews were working safely and as quickly as possible to restore service. Residents and visitors were asked to stay clear of work areas while the assessment continued, per the same utility statement relayed by PoPville. WJLA reported that Pepco said it would share updates as more information became available.
Outage Numbers Shift Through the Morning
The scope of the outage appeared to grow as the day went on. DC News Now's outage tracking showed that, as of 12:36 p.m., about 1,176 customers near 23rd and I Streets NW were affected, slightly above the roughly 1,100 figure Pepco initially cited. That same report noted more than 70 residential and academic buildings on GW's campus were without power.
Restoration timing proved just as murky as the outage count. Yahoo reported that Pepco's outage map at one point estimated power should be restored by 11 a.m., but DC News Now later reported crews were estimating restoration by 4 p.m. The GW Hatchet reported that Pepco subsequently updated the estimated restoration time to “pending assessment,” and WTOP reported that there was no word yet on when power might be restored. The conflicting estimates left residents and students without a clear timeline for when the lights would come back on.
A Neighborhood With a History of Outages
Monday's incident is not the first time Foggy Bottom has dealt with a major Pepco disruption. The Foggy Bottom and West End Advisory Neighborhood Commission criticized Pepco back in March for repeated widespread outages, according to The GW Hatchet.
The neighborhood has seen larger blackouts in recent memory. A July 2025 outage affected 1,800 residents for hours and was described as the second-largest outage of that year, the Hatchet reported. An earlier outage in February 2025 hit parts of the West End and Dupont Circle, leaving hundreds of residents without power for more than two days.
As of the latest reporting, the cause of the I Street Substation event had not been confirmed, and Pepco crews remained on scene working to restore service. D.C. Fire and EMS responded to smoke reports from manholes on H Street NW.
