Authorizing City Council's Public Property Committee to hold public hearings on the Philadelphia Gas Works with regard to its rates, finances, management, governance, and practices.

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Gas Works' recent request for a staggering 30% rate increase for the typical homeowner will make their rates the highest in the country and yet are likely to continue to increase, due to future warm winters, enormous debt, increasingly worse bond ratings, and deregulation; and

WHEREAS, The Gas Works management still has not resolved the many problems with their computerized billing system, while only last year executives were abusing their expense accounts at the expense of the customers; and

WHEREAS, The Gas Works' governance structure has become increasingly diluted, with the state Public Utilities Commission recently added to the multiple groups and elected officials who have some oversight over the Gas Works, yet no one takes responsibility for any of the utility's problems; and

WHEREAS, Corporate patronage continues to take too large of a share of the Gas Works' limited resources, with millions of dollars over the last several years distributed to law firms and other politically connected companies, without requiring competitive bidding for a single contract; now therefore

BE IT RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That authority be given to the Public Property Committee to hold public hearings on the Philadelphia Gas Works with regard to its rates, finances, management, governance, and practices.

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