Council Hires Consultant to Review PGW Sale

Newsworks reports that City Council has hired Concentric Energy Advisors, at a cost of $425,000, to review the possible sale of Philadelphia Gas Works to a private Connecticut company.

Concentric Energy Advisors will analyze all the proposals submitted to the city to buy Philadelphia Gas Works, the biggest publicly-owned gas utility in the nation. Nutter wants to sell PGW to to UIL Holdings Corp., a New England firm, for $1.86 billion.

The consultant will also look at how PGW could leverage its current resources.

“As a separate branch of government, it’s our responsibility to make sure that what was submitted is appropriate,” said Council President Darrell Clarke. “We would also like to look at the possibility of maximizing one of the city’s most significant assets, be it public or private. The reality is that there is a golden opportunity for this to produce jobs.”

If the deal isn’t complete by July, UIL can contractually back out of the deal.