Testimony of Matthias Paustian
Sierra Club District of Columbia Chapter
Committee on Business and Economic Development
Hearing on PR25-0806, The Richard Beverly Confirmation Resolution of 2024
Tuesday, September 24, 2024, 11:30 a.m.
Thank you. My name is Matthias Paustian, and I testify today on behalf of the Sierra Club, America’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization. We strongly support the reappointment of Richard Beverly as a member of the Public Service Commission of the District of Columbia. Mr. Beverly has decades of experience in utility regulation and has demonstrated strong leadership in his previous terms as PSC Commissioner.
Many DC residents feel about rate cases before the PSC, much like the great English striker Gary Linaker felt about playing a soccer match with England against Germany in the 1990s. Linaker famously said: “Football is a simple game; 22 men chase a ball for 90 minutes and at the end, the Germans win.” That is how many stakeholders feel about PSC proceedings: “Dozens of groups intervene, but after a year or two of proceedings, the utilities get what they want.” But just like England eventually went on to beat Germany, thanks to Commissioner Beverly, it’s no longer so easy for the utilities to have their say.
For example, in January of this year, Mr. Beverly put out a notice to the public in which he aggregated data on pipeline replacement that showed a dramatic increase in cost of gas main and service line replacement for Washington Gas-run programs.
Per WGL's own reply to the Beverly notice, the cost of replacing main pipes rose from roughly $1 million per mile in 2010 to the staggering cost of about $8 million per mile in 2023. The cost of replacing a service line – lines that go from the street to a gas meter on the property – increased from about $7,500 in 2010 to roughly $20,000 in 2023.
Perhaps because of interventions like this by Mr. Beverly, it has become clear that wholesale replacement of the District’s gas pipes would put a tremendous burden on ratepayers, with an estimated ratepayer impact of well over $10 billion. We cannot afford to spend over $10 billion on fossil fuel infrastructure which will become obsolete by 2045 when DC is committed to achieve carbon neutrality. Instead, full scale electrification of the District’s heating system is clearly the cheaper and more sustainable option.
All three PSC commissioners promised during their confirmation hearings that they would provide proactive leadership on climate change if confirmed. So far, only Mr. Beverly has upheld that pledge while the Commission has approved millions in wasteful spending on fossil fuel pipelines. We urge all Commissioners to uphold the District’s climate commitments and protect ratepayers from reckless spending on gas infrastructure that enriches AltaGas shareholders and harms DC residents.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify. We ask the Council to confirm Mr. Beverly as Commissioner of the PSC.