Washington Gas and Light was ordered Friday to pay a $350,000 fine for refusing to turn over documents tied to the outsourcing of its customer service functions, a penalty that will increase $5,000 per day until the company complies.
The decision by the D.C. Public Service Commission, the District’s utility regulator, also puts on indefinite hold any consideration of Washington Gas’ proposed 7.7 percent rate increase for its 151,000 D.C. customers, which it had hoped to implement today.
“WGL’s sole reason for not producing the document is WGL’s belief that production was not ‘necessary to the vigorous airing of the issues in a rate case,’ ” the commission wrote in its order. “Lest WGL forget, the Commission, not WGL, is the entity that has the authority to make [those decisions.]”
The order continued: “There is no question that the Commission has a responsibility to review WGL’s cost recovery claims to ensure that WGL’s outsourcing costs were reasonably and prudently incurred, before those costs can be recovered from WGL ratepayers.”
The Commission’s decision followed WGL’s refusal to turn over documents sought by the Office and Professional Employees International Union and the D.C. Office of the People’s Counsel, both of which have asked to review the $350 million, 10-year contract between Washington Gas and Accenture.
The company expects to save $170 million over the life of the deal, which has led consumer advocates to question the justification for its proposed rate increase.
In previous filings with the commission, Washington Gas has argued that the documents are irrelevant to its rate increase case and proprietary, and their release to the union or to competition could cause the company “irreparable harm.”
The utility also has found “no examples when the Commission has exercised its authority to sanction” for failure to disclose documents.
“I have been around a number of years, and I have never seen the Commission exert its authority like this,” OPC Elizabeth Noel said in a statement. “This is a major victory for consumers.”
