Faced With Fine, WGL Hands Over Copy of Contract

Faced with a fine growing at a rate of $5,000 a day, Washington Gas Light's parent company has turned over a copy of a controversial outsourcing contract to the District's Public Service Commission.

The commission imposed the fine Friday -- starting at $350,000 -- after WGL Holdings refused to supply it with a copy of a $350 million agreement the company had made with Accenture that would mean laying off about 300 people in the Washington area. The commission ordered the company to produce the agreement July 20, and Friday it criticized WGL's "egregious violation" of local legal codes and "willful and knowing violation" of commission orders.

Eric Grant, a spokesman for WGL, would not answer any questions yesterday. He issued a brief written statement saying that Washington Gas had asked the commission to rescind its fine. "We respect fully the authority of the commission," the statement said. "Washington Gas has acted in good faith throughout the proceedings . . ."

Earlier, WGL had asked for some of the costs in the Accenture contract to be considered in its pending application for a $20.5 million rate increase. That opened the door for the Office and Professional Employees International Union, which represents 160 of the workers who are being laid off, to ask the commission to demand a look at the contract. The commission agreed.

Washington Gas sent layoff notices to those workers last Monday, the union said.

Kenneth Thomas, an official with Local 2 of the OPEIU, said that Accenture, a consulting and outsourcing firm based in Bermuda, would move customer service call centers to Canada and the Philippines, and he said that could create hazards if people unfamiliar with the area are fielding calls from customers reporting gas leaks or other problems.

Thomas also said Washington Gas had received tax breaks for hiring a dozen or so of the people to be laid off under a program that rewarded firms for hiring people from unemployment rolls.

The layoffs would eliminate more than half the people in the OPEIU bargaining unit. Members of the unit make an average of $47,000 a year, plus benefits, Thomas said. Altogether, the annual salaries of the OPEIU members being laid off would make up less than a quarter of the yearly cost of the Accenture contract.

The District's Office of the People's Counsel said it was only the third time the commission had issued sanctions against a local utility. "Washington Gas has flaunted its arrogance before the commission for far too long," Elizabeth A. Noel of People's Counsel said in a statement. "The company has insulted the commission at the expense of ratepayers," she said, adding that the fine was "a clear sign the PSC is standing up to Washington Gas."