UIL Holdings Corp. has officially terminated its agreement to buy Philadelphia Gas Works, which has been all but dead since late October when Philadelphia city councilors said they would refuse to support the $1.86 billion sale.
UIL said it hoped to convince councilors to restart talks with city officials, but the announcement of the termination Thursday indicates those efforts failed.
The utility parent has been within its rights to cancel the asset purchase agreement since July. The deal would have automatically expired Dec. 31.
“We are extremely disappointed that no ordinance was introduced to approve the acquisition and we’re equally disappointed that we were not afforded a hearing to present the facts regarding our bid proposal,” UIL President and CEO James P. Torgerson said in a statement. “Philadelphia and the City’s gas customers would have benefitted from our accelerating the pace of pipe replacement and from our management of the PGW assets.”
Councilors had argued that the deal would have less benefit than initially stated.
