Is PECO Over Billing City for Street Lights?
PECO could be beating the City of Philadelphia out of a lot of bucks. An audit of the Streets Department, one of several released by the City Controller this past week, uncovered the fact there could be savings for the city if documentation could be found “showing how the Streets Department verified its $1 million a month electric bill for streetlights, traffic lights, and alley lights.” Controller Jonathan Saidel’s staff found Department of Streets personnel deferred to PECO Energy for most of the answers” to the auditors questions on hours billed, calculation methods and rats and charges. The Controller’s auditors also found “the PECO bill could not be readily verified because it described lights differently than were described in city records and it omitted billing details necessary to determine what the city was being charged.” Other audits revealed savings could be made in two other departments. Controller Jonathan Saidel suggested the Department of Recreation close its Sedgley St
