Joe Rigby, Chairman, CEO and President of Pepco Holdings, Inc. opened The Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid’s 8th National Town Meeting today with a welcome to Washington and participation in the Keynote Roundtable.

With over 400 attendees from the utility sector, state and federal regulatory agencies, the environmental community and the smart grid and clean-tech industries, the National Town Meeting will, over two days, cover a wide array of issues regarding smart grid. It will have a particular focus on the potential for smart grid technology and demand response mechanisms to improve the efficiency of the electrical system.

With smart grid technologies, like smart meters, as the platform, demand response mechanisms incent consumers to shift their energy usage away from peak demand times. Through smart grid enabled price signals and time-based incentives, consumers are encouraged to reduce their peak use thus improving system reliability and reducing the use of electric generation facilities that are not as environmentally favorable.

To kick off the conference, the Keynote Roundtable offered a robust discussion of legislative and regulatory smart grid developments in Congress, federal agencies, and state government. In addition to Mr. Rigby, other panelists included Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Patricia A. Hoffman, Assistant Secretary for Electricity Delivery and Energy Reliability at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Pepco Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: POM) is one of the largest energy delivery companies in the Mid-Atlantic region, serving about 1.9 million customers in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland and New Jersey. PHI subsidiaries Pepco, Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric provide regulated electricity service; Delmarva Power also provides natural gas service. PHI also provides retail energy savings and renewable services through Pepco Energy Services.