Behind the Numbers: PUC Chairman Recognizes Staff and 2025 Accomplishments

Behind the Numbers: PUC Chairman Recognizes Staff and 2025 Accomplishments

Published on 12/18/2025

Filed under: Consumer Education Electric Gas Motor Carrier Pipeline Rails Telecommunications Transportation and Safety Water and Wastewater

Year-end message underscores the daily work, judgment, and care that support utility service for nearly 13 million Pennsylvanians

HARRISBURG - The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) Chairman Steve DeFrank today closed the Commission's final public meeting of 2025 with a message of thanks to PUC employees and a reflection on the work performed throughout the year to protect consumers and ensure safe, reliable utility service for nearly 13 million Pennsylvanians.

"This work is not abstract," Chairman DeFrank said. "It affects whether families have heat in the winter, clean water at the tap, safe transportation, reliable communications, and confidence that the systems they depend on will be there tomorrow. And in 2025, PUC staff delivered."

Chairman DeFrank emphasized that while the Commission's work is often measured in filings, hearings, inspections, and decisions, those figures represent the daily efforts of staff working carefully and deliberately to get decisions right.

Among the year's highlights:

• Commission operations and transparency:
  The Secretary's Bureau managed more than 32,000 filings in 2025, with over 65 percent filed electronically, and served nearly 11,000 documents, decisions, orders, and formal complaints. The Bureau also handled more than 400 Right-to-Know requests, a 200 percent increase from the prior year. Supporting that work, the Office of Special Assistants issued more than 212 formal documents, including opinions, orders, and Secretarial Letters.
• Oversight, adjudication, and consumer assistance:
  The Bureau of Audits completed 25 financial audit reports covering 86 years of adjustment clauses, reviewed approximately 316 adjustment clauses, and issued 68 management audit recommendations, with a 1 percent acceptance rate by companies.

The Office of Administrative Law Judges conducted 703 evidentiary hearings, 68 public input hearings, mediated 359 cases, and issued 455 written decisions.The Bureau of Consumer Services responded to more than 116,000 consumer calls and web complaints, while keeping open winter moratorium cases at the lowest level in a decade.

• Legislative coordination and policy support:
  The Office of Legislative Affairs assisted with preparation for a dozen legislative hearings and tracked extensive legislative activity affecting Commission responsibilities, including proposals related to the Commission's 2025-26 budget authorization, nearly twenty bills focused on data centers, and at least fifty bills seeking to amend the Public Utility Code.
• Safety and enforcement:
  PUC staff conducted more than 3,000 electric and pipeline safety inspections, responded to 171 electric safety investigations, and addressed 20 pipeline incidents.
  The Commission completed 1,500 Federal Railroad Administration inspections, responded to 80 rail incidents, and conducted more than 4,900 roadside inspections of commercial motor vehicles.
  The Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement launched an online payment system for Damage Prevention Committee violations, hosted a statewide safety seminar with more than 400 participants, and hired seven new Pipeline Safety Inspectors.
  The Gas Safety Division again earned top scores in an annual evaluation by the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
• Cybersecurity, preparedness, and future planning:
  The Commission advanced work toward modernizing utility cybersecurity regulations, participated in emergency preparedness exercises, and continued its role on the Pennsylvania Black Sky Steering Committee, preparing for large-scale, long-duration outage scenarios.
• Energy markets and community investment:
  Nearly 5 million Pennsylvanians, representing more than 64 percent of total electricity load, chose competitive electricity suppliers in 2025. The Commission refreshed PAGasSwitch to better align with PAPowerSwitch and improve consumer navigation of retail energy choices.
  Through the Bureau of Administration, the PUC distributed $164.6 million in natural gas impact fees in 2025, bringing the 14-year total to more than $2.8 billion for Pennsylvania communities.
• Public outreach and education:
  More than 1,000 participants attended the PUC's Be Utility Wise conferences, and staff expanded the Commission's community presence across the Commonwealth, including at the 2025 Pennsylvania Farm Show. The addition of a Digital Director further strengthened the Commission's online and social media engagement.
• Moving Ahead with Five-Year Strategic Plan

In 2025, we continued implementing our five-year operational strategic plan by launching an online payment system for Damage Prevention Committee violations; embarking on initiatives focusing on skills, staffing, and capacity in MIS; kicking off a Performance Excellence process in the Bureau of Administration; and streamlining the Commission's hiring process.

Chairman DeFrank also highlighted the Commission's internal culture and community involvement, noting employee participation in training initiatives, volunteer activities, charitable giving through the State Employees Combined Appeal, environmental clean-ups, and holiday support for families in need.

"These acts may not appear in a docket," DeFrank said, "but they define who we are as Team PUC."

Chairman DeFrank closed by thanking Commission staff, partner agencies, consumer advocates, utilities, and stakeholders, and by expressing appreciation to the people of Pennsylvania for their trust in the Commission.

About the PUC

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission balances the needs of consumers and utilities; ensures safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protects the public interest; educates consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; furthers economic development; and fosters new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.

Visit the PUC's website at puc.pa.gov for recent news releases and video of select proceedings. You can also follow us on X, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube. Search for the "Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission" or "PA PUC" on your favorite social media channel for updates on utility issues and other helpful consumer information.

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Contact:

• Denise McCracken
  Senior Communications Specialist
  717-787-5722
  [email protected]