Paying tomorrow’s bills in today’s dollars

Philadelphia Gas Works is asking for a rate increase to pay for retiree health care.

PGW is asking for a 14 percent increase to their base rate. Steven Hershey is a Vice-President at the utility. He says the hike is designed to save money for people in the future.

Philadelphia Gas Works is asking for a rate increase to pay for retiree health care.

PGW is asking for a 14 percent increase to their base rate. Steven Hershey is a Vice-President at the utility. He says the hike is designed to save money for people in the future.

Hershey: The reason for the increase is that we want to fund our post-retirement obligations in the same way as other utilities are allowed to do it and in a way that would save customers a lot of money, $200 million dollars over 30 years.

The hike is expected to cost customers about $8.50 a month, and Hershey says another request is to spend $5 more a year per customer to install conservation measures that will also pay off in the future.