Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) is the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

' largest municipally owned natural gas utility. Construction was completed by engineer Samuel V. Merrick on January 22, 1838, and operations continued from the 1800s to the present day.

History

Less than a year after the passage of "An Ordinance For the Construction and Management of The Philadelphia Gas Works" by the Select and Common Councils of Philadelphia on March 21, 1935, the Philadelphia Gas Works began providing gas service to the City of

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

when the city's first 46 gas lights were turned on along Second Street, between Vine and South Streets on February 10, 1836. Construction of the Philadelphia Gas Works was subsequently completed by engineer Samuel V. Merrick on January 22, 1838. In 1841, PGW came under city ownership. Half a century later, the UGI Corporation (then United Gas Improvement Company) was contracted by the city in 1897 to operate and manage PGW. By the 1940s, PGW was serving some 500,000 customers in Philadelphia, providing 99% of the gas distributed within the city limits.Castaneda 1993, pg. 105 At this time, the gas provided was primarily

carbureted water gas Water gas is a kind of fuel gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is produced by "alternately hot blowing a fuel layer okewith air and gasifying it with steam". The caloric yield of this is about 10% of a modern syngas plant. ...

. In 1947, the City of Philadelphia stated that it valued PGW at more than .Castaneda 1993, pg. 107 Similar contracts to the one implemented with UGI in 1897 continued to be approved by city leaders until December 1972, at which time Mayor

Frank Rizzo Francis Lazarro Rizzo (October 23, 1920 – July 16, 1991) was an American police officer and politician. He served as Philadelphia police commissioner from 1968 to 1971 and mayor of Philadelphia from 1972 to 1980. He was a member of the Democ ...

and the Philadelphia City Council contracted with the nonprofit

Philadelphia Facilities Management Corporation Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Act of C ...

(PFMC) to operate and manage PGW, beginning on January 1, 1973. The seven-member board of directors of the Philadelphia Facilities Management Corporation is appointed by the mayor. Its charge, as set forth in a management agreement between the City and the PFMC, makes the PFMC responsible for all operations of PGW through an executive management team, which includes a chief executive officer, chief operating officer, and chief financial officer. In 2014, the City of Philadelphia attempted to sell PGW to

UIL Holdings Corporation UIL Holdings Corporation was a diversified energy delivery company serving a total of 690,000 electric and natural gas utility customers in 66 communities across two states, with combined total assets of over $4 billion. In 2015 it merged with I ...

for , pending approval from the Philadelphia City Council, which was ultimately declined. In 2021, Philadelphia Gas Works executives agreed to begin exploring ways to reduce the utility's carbon footprint in furtherance of city objectives to reach net zero carbon emissions by the year 2050 in an effort to help fight

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to ...

. In 2022, state utility regulators approved gas main replacement plans by the Philadelphia Gas Works to upgrade more than 1,000 miles of pipes that had been installed prior to

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Awards

The American Public Gas Association has awarded PGW its 2010 Marketing and Sales Award. In 2009, PGW had an advertising campaign showing customers and the public about the value of

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

Notes

References

External links

* * {{authority control Buildings and structures in Philadelphia Historic American Engineering Record in Philadelphia Natural gas companies of the United States Public utilities of the United States 1836 establishments in Pennsylvania