1) Background PGW, a municipally owned natural gas distribution company, provides natural gas service to approximately 500,000 customers within the city of Philadelphia, using 6,000 miles of gas mains and services. PGW serves approximately 450,000 residential customers and 25,000 business customers. Approximately one-quarter of PGW’s residential customer base are low-income households. PGW is the only utility distributing natural gas within the city of Philadelphia, and its mission is to provide safe, reliable natural gas service to the citizens of Philadelphia. 2) Examples of Research PGW seeks a vendor or vendors that can support with consulting on best practices, research and benchmarking. This can include sharing reports and studies that are already developed, as well as providing memos and short whitepapers as ad hoc research at PGW’s request. Below are examples of topics PGW may inquire about: • How do other utilities establish goals that are reported to their corporate boards? What are best practices to follow? • What ways are utilities using artificial intelligence (AI)? • What decarbonization strategies are utilities implementing? How are utilities implementing programs for renewable natural gas, geothermal, hydrogen and other technologies? • What other utilities are offering parts and labor plans, or have fee for service offerings? How are these programs set up? • What alternative ratemaking mechanisms are employed by other gas and/or municipallyowned utilities? • Of new water heater purchases in the region, what is the breakdown between natural gas tankless and natural gas storage water heaters, and electric units? 3) Key Items for Responses Vendors should explain in their responses: • Bios of any key personnel providing utility research • Fill out the pricing sheet and explain on what basis you charge for your services. Are you a subscription based service? Do you charge per article or hour of work performed? • Do you offer any value added services, such as peer sharing calls, webinars or special events?
