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FOURTH PEOPLE’S COUNSEL
Elizabeth A. Noel (1991-2010)
Elizabeth “Betty” A. Noel served as the fourth People’s Counsel from 1991 to 2010, the longest tenure in the role. She previously served as deputy people’s counsel for several years. During Noel’s leadership, she solidified OPC’s reputation as an unwavering defender of D.C. consumer rights and interests. Noel championed the representation of residents with unfaltering dedication, famously stating, “The ratepayers are OPC’s shareholders.”
Under her guidance, OPC expanded technical assistance to community and civic groups and increased its in-house staff to 36 members. Noel was a consummate policy strategist, litigator, and negotiator and a confident advocate anywhere she went. She was the chief litigator who oversaw numerous rate cases and played a pivotal role in shutting down the toxic Benning Road power plant. She successfully fought against the proliferation of customer-owned pay phones, which had become magnets for drug trafficking in some neighborhoods.
She was at the helm during landmark decisions: Pepco’s divestiture and sale of its power plants, the first Pepco acquisition, and the conversion to Pepco Holdings, Inc., that involved D.C. and four states: Maryland, New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania. Noel’s reputation as a strong advocate for all D.C. ratepayers and consumers across the District is the hallmark of OPC’s continued dedication and innovative advocacy today.
The Move to Restructure and Deregulate Utilities
Washington Gas Unbundles Gas Sales to Customers
In 1995, Washington Gas Light Company (WGL) filed the first of several proposals with the PSC that requested permission to change the way it conducted its business in D.C. WGL wanted to give natural gas customers of all classes the opportunity to choose how they wanted to obtain gas: whether that be from
a supplier other than Washington Gas or WGL itself. WGL’s tariffs proposed an unbundling of utility costs
so that customers could see exactly how much and what they were paying for (the cost of gas, pipeline costs, delivery costs, etc.). The PSC approved WGL’s proposed tariffs, which authorized a few big changes: Nonresidential customers could unbundle their charges, large commercial customers could purchase gas from third-party suppliers and receive separate delivery services from WGL, and the establishment of a program for residential gas customers to purchase gas from third-party suppliers and receive delivery service from WGL.20 WGL’s move to unbundle was meant to change its monopoly status: no longer would it provide bundled natural gas service but instead would offer a selection of unbundled services, which made for a more competitive market. WGL’s customers could finally select a company other than Washington Gas as their natural gas provider. Even still, WGL continues to deliver gas to all consumers, regardless of who sells the commodity.
OPC’s Journey to Protect Utility Consumers
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