Committee on Health and Environmental Protection
SUBSTITUTE RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, The Peoples Gas Light and Coke Company (Peoples Gas) is an Illinois corporation engaged in the transportation, purchase, storage, distribution, and sale of gas to the public in Illinois; and
WHEREAS, Peoples Gas is a subsidiary of Milwaukee, Wisconsin based WEC Energy Group, Inc.; and
WHEREAS, Peoples Gas serves more than 873,000 Chicagoans, and has delivered gas to residential and business customers for over 165 years; and
WHEREAS, in 1981 an engineering study commissioned by Peoples Gas recommended replacing a subset of at risk gas mains of certain materials by 2030; and
WHEREAS, a follow-up 1993 engineering study recommended expanding the target for replacement to include all cast and ductile iron mains, and moving the target end date for replacement to 2050; and
WHEREAS, beginning in 2007, Peoples Gas sought regulatory approval to accelerate pipe replacement through a special cost recovery mechanism, or "rider"; and
WHEREAS, in 2013, the Illinois General Assembly authorized Peoples Gas and other gas distribution utilities to use this mechanism, a rider for Qualified Infrastructure Plant, or "Rider QIP"; and
WHEREAS, Peoples Gas' accelerated pipe replacement has taken various forms and names, including Accelerated Main Replacement Program (AMRP) and System Modernization Program (SMP); and
WHEREAS; under the direction ofthe ICC, Liberty Consulting Group performed an outside audit ofthe AMRP, presenting its Phase One final report to the ICC in May 2015; and
WHEREAS, the Phase One final report states "Liberty's year-long investigation disclosed a lack of management expression or understanding of: (a) likely overall program costs, (b) likely program duration relative to targeted completion of leak-prone pipe replacement by 2030, and (c) the reasons why leak rates have not fallen significantly after four years of accelerated replacement of cast iron and ductile iron mains."; an...
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