Washington Gas rate increase talks stalled by papers dispute

It looks like the Office of the People’s Counsel and the Office and Professional Employees International Union Local 2 are giving Washington Gas a run for their money. Union lawyers and D.C. People’s Counsel Elizabeth Noël are trying to see why Washington Gas needs a rate increase of about $20 million a year if they're going to be saving over $170 million during the 10 year deal with Accenture.

I agree with Noël:

"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 & Light Reaches New Rate Settlement

The AP reports:

The settlement says that rates will increase by $3.9 million annually. The press release states that it is designed to allow investments in system maintenance and improvement projects.

The settlement also says that Washington Gas and Light will freeze its billed delivery rates for the next for years in the Commonwealth. The company will also be implementing a mechanism called the Weather Normalization Adjustment mechanism. Along with this, they will also introduce a Performance Based Rate plan that will share cost savings with customers.

Great, Washington Gas gets more money on the backs of their employees and enriches their shareholders over the better interest of their customers. I'm sure this will help their stock price.