White House, Capitol, other sites affected by reports of widespread power outages across DC

WASHINGTON – The White House, State Department and Capitol were all affected by reports of widespread power outages across Washington and its suburbs Tuesday afternoon.

The utility company Pepco said it was investigating the outage reports. Spokesman Sean Kelly said he did not have details about locations or how many customers were affected.

Some outages were brief. Electricity in the White House press briefing room dipped around lunchtime, darkening cubicles and blackening TV screens, but service resumed within seconds.

Power went out at the State Department during the daily press briefing, forcing a spokeswoman to finish comments in the dark.

The public transportation system tweeted that several stations were on backup power.

University of Maryland officials say their entire campus was affected.