First posted on Instagram
About 1,100 homes and businesses in Washington's Foggy Bottom neighbourhood lost power on Monday morning, November 2, 2026, after what the utility Pepco called an "event" at its I Street Substation, leaving a university campus, government offices and busy streets without electricity for about five hours on the eve of the midterm elections. The outage began at about 9 a.m. and stretched across much of the neighbourhood near George Washington University, roughly from 17th to 21st Streets NW, between Virginia Avenue and Pennsylvania Avenue. AlertDC, the District government's alert service, put the figure at 1,176 customers.
At about the same time, DC Fire and EMS crews responded to reports of smoke coming from several manholes in the 1800 block of H Street NW, near the Farragut West Metro station. A Fire and EMS post on X at 9:54 a.m. said crews were investigating the area with Pepco on scene to assist with a power surge and electrical outages, and police blocked off the 1800 block of H Street while the work went on.
George Washington University cancelled classes for the entire day, with the outage affecting more than 80 of its buildings, including its academic centre and student centre, and disrupting campus services. Traffic lights failed across the neighbourhood and police directed traffic, while the Foggy Bottom-GWU Metro station continued to operate normally.
State Department off-site offices, including the Washington Passport Agency, closed to the public after experiencing what a state official described as an unscheduled loss of electrical power, and the World Bank Group said the outage affected its downtown office buildings.
Pepco gave an early estimate of power back by about 11 a.m., then withdrew it. At 1:46 p.m. the utility said crews were making progress and power was expected to be restored to all affected customers by 2 p.m., and at 2:12 p.m. it said power had been restored to all impacted customers. The university confirmed campus power just before 3 p.m. No injuries were reported.
The cause of the event at the I Street Substation remains under investigation, and Pepco said there is no indication of foul play. The outage came one day before the midterm elections, but Pepco has not tied it to polling sites, and no reports indicate any polling place lost power.
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