By Emily Davis, Southeastern Pennsylvania Group; Geodelphia Member
On Wednesday, August 20th, the Energy Justice Advocates and their supporters rallied outside Philadelphia’s City Hall to celebrate a win in their intervention in the Philadelphia Gas Works rate case at the Pennsylvania Utilities Commission. The complainants in the rate case, calling themselves Energy Justice Advocates, were POWER Interfaith, Sierra Club Pennsylvania, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, Clean Air Council, Vote Solar, PennEnvironment, and PennPIRG, and were represented by Devin McDougall of Earthjustice.
State Representative Chris Rabb (PA District 200 - Mount Airy) began his remarks at the rally with a “slip of the tongue” referring to PGW as Philadelphia Geothermal Works, then corrected himself by saying Philadelphia Gas Works. Rabb, a strong supporter of environmental issues, reminded us that we still have work to do and that Pennsylvania is one of only two states that includes environmental stewardship in its constitution. Belle Sherwood of PennPIRG said that PGW should” facilitate rather than frustrate” the transition to clean, renewable energy. The program, emceed by Flora Cardoni of PennEnvironment, also included State Representative Ben Waxman (PA District 182 – Center City), Jordan Levy representing Philadelphia City Councilman Nicolas O’Rourke, as well as other speakers from the Energy Justice Advocates member groups.
Representative Chris Rabb speaking at the rally
The agreement:
- Brings down PGW’s $105 million yearly rate increase proposal to $62 million–a reduction of more than 40%;
- Completely removes PGW’s proposed revenue guarantee, which would have forced customers to pay more if PGW’s annual revenue fell short of expectations;
- Places limits on an existing surcharge that adds charges to customer bills when warmer-than-expected weather means customers use less gas. PGW also agreed to revisit how it calculates “normal” weather, given the recent history of warmer winters in Philadelphia.
- Includes improvements to PGW’s Customer Responsibility Program, and an increase to PGW’s Low Income Usage Reduction Program (“LIURP”) budget to $9 million in 2026; and
- creates a community engagement process between PGW and the public regarding planning for long-term greenhouse gas emission reductions in Philadelphia
Those groups and others in the coalition HERE4CJ (Housing Equity, Repair, and Electrification for Climate Justice) will continue to work to bring PGW’s business model in line with the City’s commitment to 100% clean energy by 2050.
This blog was included as part of the September 2025 Sylvanian newsletter. Please click here to check out more articles from this edition!