UPDATE Sept. 8, 6:25 p.m.: Pepco's Andre Francis now says that this guy does in fact work for Pepco. Bit of an odd PR moment for the power company, to say the least.

UPDATE 5:58 p.m.: Pepco's Andre Francis got back in touch this afternoon to let us know that he had made a couple of mistakes when he spoke to TBD earlier. As it turns out, Pepco *does* have meter readers who wear either orange or brown shirts that either read "Pepco Contractor" or "Accuread" with a Pepco badge. It also turns out that some meter readers may in fact drive their personal vehicles, according to Francis.

Original story: Life on the Edgewood shares this story from an Edgewood resident who had an encounter with what appears to be a man impersonating a Pepco employee:

As I was heading back up my front walk after walking my dog this morning I was approached by an African-American male, mid-40s about 5"3 wearing a bright orange polo shirt with a pretty fake looking Pepco patch and tan Pepco hat, carrying some sort of electrical box and a flashlight. He told me he was here to come in the house to read the meter. I immediately thought it was strange because I hadn't heard from Pepco about them needing to come to the house, plus I saw no truck. I asked him for identification. He went into his wallet kind of showed his drivers' license and then said he didn't have an ID because it was his first day. I told him to come back when he has ID, he muttered something about putting a "refuse service" on my account and walked up 3rd St.

Pepco spokesperson Andre Francis says this definitely sounds like an impostor. Any Pepco employee, regardless of whether it was their first day, would be carrying proper ID, Francis says, and there is no Pepco uniform that incorporates a bright orange shirt. Nearly all Pepco meter readers would be wearing a blue dungaree-style uniform with an embroidered company logo on it. And this resident was correct that Pepco informs customers ahead of time if a meter reader needed to visit their house.

"I'm glad the customer did not let this person come into the home," Francis says.

The resident was also right that nearly any on-duty Pepco employee would be driving a Pepco vehicle. There are very few exceptions to this rule, Francis says, though during this summer's power outages, a number of employees did use personal vehicles to distribute emergency information to customers. Still though, they would have been wearing official uniforms when they did so.

This isn't the first time Pepco has heard about con artists pretending to be employees of the power company. Around this time last year, Pepco put out a press release reminding customers to be careful after receiving similar reports.

Should you encounter anyone claiming to work for the utility, Pepco asks that you do just was this resident did: ask for official photo identification. If the individual can't produce proper ID, customers should immediately notify the power company at 202-833-7500, and call the police, especially if you feel your safety is at risk.