Gov. Martin O’Malley wants the state agency that regulates utilities to keep a closer eye on PEPCO, the electricity company that provides power to Maryland’s Washington suburbs.

Hundreds of thousands in those areas underwent days of outages this summer after violent storms knocked out power lines. In a letter today to the state’s Public Service Commission, O’Malley asked regulators to establish standards for the frequency and duration of power outages – and then hold the company’s feet to the fire.

“We can no longer accept that utilities are trying their best” O’Malley wrote. “We must demand safe and reliable electric distribution service and responsive and meaningful customer communication as measured by objective standards.”

Montgomery County was walloped by two storms that left residents in the dark (and with no air-conditioning) -- A July storm left 200,000 without power; and this month a storm knocked out 90,000 residences.

But, what the county residents may lack from time to time in electrical power, they can make up in electoral clout. Montgomery is brimming with independent voters that could tip the balance in the upcoming gubernatorial contest, my colleague Julie Bykowicz wrote in The Sun this weekend.