The regulatory panel debating a proposed natural gas rate increase for District of Columbia customers has canceled a series of public meetings on the matter and suspended proceedings after Washington Gas refused to turn over papers tied to the increase.
The District’s Public Service Commission last month ordered Washington Gas Light Co. to furnish documents demanded by the Office of the People’s Counsel and the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2, two of the groups that oppose the utility’s proposed 8.1 percent rate increase.
Washington Gas has refused the order and has asked the commission to reconsider.
Pending its ruling, the commission announced late last week that community meetings on the rate increase scheduled for August are canceled and the case’s procedural schedule is suspended.
“The Commission has shown a commitment to managing this case in an orderly fashion by suspending the proceedings to sort through the procedural issues in dispute among the parties,” Washington Gas said in a statement.
The tumult is tied to a $350 million, 10-year deal recently reached between Washington Gas and consultant Accenture, which calls for the utility to outsource numerous support functions, including its D.C. customer service call center.
About 250 Washington Gas employees are expected to lose their jobs, the company announced in June, and the utility projects it will save $170 million over the life of the contract.
According to OPEIU Local 2, 150 of its members will be laid off when the call center changes hands. Union lawyers and D.C. People’s Counsel Elizabeth Noël, who is charged with representing taxpayers before the commission, sought the Accenture contract through discovery.
But Washington Gas has refused to turn it over, calling the documents irrelevant to the rate increase issue.
Noël said Wednesday that outsourcing customer service functions is closely tied to the “company’s ability to provide safe, adequate and reliable service at rates that are just and reasonable.”
Whatever is in the Accenture contract, she said, Washington Gas is apparently willing to throw away its $20.5 million rate increase to protect it.
Washington Gas wants to implement its rate increase Oct. 1.
