Pittsburgh City Council

Pittsburgh forgot to pay its light bills.

Written by Inform Up Staff

Council learned at the Oct. 22 committee meeting that it has been in the dark about the city’s electric bills.

An audit to save money on electricity found the city hasn’t been paying its electric bills.

The issue came up when the Department of Public Works (DPW) audited electric meters across the city to join a cost sharing consortium. The audit found the city hadn’t paid all of its Duquesne Light invoices for its electric meters.

Don Mudrick, DPW’s financial manager, said that the department was able to negotiate the debt with Duquesne Light down to $204,750. He also said the city has been without a utilities manager since the previous manager left in 2012. Approximately 300 invoices a month had been going to offices across departments, rather than only to Mudrick’s office.

Interns at DPW tracked down the 1,098 meters using Google Earth. Those meters are only part of the city’s electric usage and do not include power needs such as streetlights.

Payments will also switch to the city’s procurement card system, which would make the city eligible for a $11-15 million rebate, according to Mudrick.

Council agreed to pay the money needed to bring the delinquent accounts to zero.

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