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March 19, 2026
Today People’s Counsel Sandra Mattavous-Frye petitioned the DC Public Service Commission (PSC) to establish an Independent Distribution Monitor to evaluate and oversee WGL’s maintenance, recording, and reporting of gas leak data. “This action is necessary following disturbing findings from OPC’s own investigation into Washington Gas Light's (WGL) gas leak data recording and reporting practices, which found thousands of violations of District regulations,” stated Ms. Frye.
OPC’s investigation found violations of regulations designed to keep consumers informed and safe both during and after WGL gas leaks, including explosive WGL gas leaks. Among the more shocking findings is that gas leaks went completely missing from WGL’s gas leak database (LIDAROC), including gas leaks that can explode and pose an imminent hazard to people and buildings. OPC’s investigation also found significant information missing from reports or inconsistent data about the time to repair gas leaks, whether repairs were delayed through a practice of “downgrading” the type of leak, and information about the pipe’s prior leak history.
“Given the gravity of OPC’s findings, I am deeply concerned that WGL’s actions are severely limiting the District’s ability to focus on pipe repairs, pipe replacements, climate concerns, and environmental injustice, with underlying data that’s simply not reliable,” stated the People’s Counsel.
Regulators must have accurate and complete data to effectively and efficiently evaluate appropriate expenditures for Infrastructure repair and replacement. Given the incomplete and inaccurate state of WGL’s gas leak reporting, OPC urges the Commission to establish an Independent Distribution Monitor that can help evaluate the extent to which data is missing, the accuracy of WGL’s data integrity and reliability reporting, and propose ways to address these noncompliance issues with WGL’s LIDAROC reporting.
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