Ruling on OPC Request, Public Service Commission Says Washington Gas Failed to Provide Adequate Customer Service, Violated Regulations and Merger Conditions
BALTIMORE – The Office of People’s Counsel presented evidence demonstrating Washington Gas & Light’s “extensive failure to provide adequate customer service” within its Maryland service territory, the Maryland Public Service Commission declared in an order issued today. Those customer-service failures, the Commission concluded, violated several state regulations as well as two conditions of a prior order approving the utility’s 2018 acquisition by Canadian holding company AltaGas.
“We applaud the Commission’s decision and hope that it moves Washington Gas to quickly address its customer-service issues,” said People’s Counsel David S. Lapp. “The cold weather and pandemic make it even more important that the monopoly utility’s captive customers receive timely, quality customer service. The Commission’s ruling today should help.”
Citing OPC’s request that showed the decline in customer-service metrics since the AltaGas merger, the Commission observed that the percentage of customer calls Washington Gas answered within 30 seconds declined from 77% pre-merger to 43% (industry average 82%); the percentage of calls abandoned by customers increased from 11% to 28% (industry average 8%); and the average speed to answer a customer’s call (in seconds) increased from 42 to 566 (industry average 30). The longest time customers had to wait for their call to be answered increased from 41 minutes to 67 minutes (industry average 8 minutes).
OPC argued and the Commission found that these service failures violated two conditions of the merger: one requiring it to maintain certain levels of customer-service performance and another requiring regular reporting on its customer-service statistics. The Commission also agreed with OPC that Washington Gas violated regulations requiring it to effectively investigate any complaints regarding its practices, to keep sufficient records for a review of its service procedures, and to investigate and resolve customer complaints.
Based on its findings of violations, the Commission directed that the utility suspend all bill-collection letters, disconnections, and late fees until it complies with eight customer-service metrics for three months in a row. The Commission further required Washington Gas to track various costs associated with the customer-service problems to determine whether they can be recovered in a future rate case.
OPC asked the Commission to impose a $1.5 million penalty against Washington Gas for its past violations and set automatic penalties for future failures to meet customer service standards. The Commission denied both those requests, however, stating that it would schedule a future hearing on civil penalties.
“The record strongly supports imposing civil penalties now for Washington Gas’s years of consumer neglect, and automatic penalties would be the best way to prevent the utility’s abysmal record from continuing,” Lapp said. “But on the whole, the Commission’s decision represents a significant victory for Washington Gas’s consumers.”
The Maryland Office of People’s Counsel is an independent state agency that represents Maryland’s residential consumers of electric, natural gas, telecommunications, private water and certain transportation matters before the Public Service Commission, federal regulatory agencies and the courts.
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