The penalty, approved in a 3-2 vote at the commission’s public meeting this morning in Harrisburg, is by far the largest fine ever issued by utility regulators but substantially less than the proposed fine of $50 million recommended by administrative law judges in November.
During discussion about the penalty, Commissioner John F. Coleman Jr. said the fine was fitting for the San Francisco-based ride-share company’s violations, which include operating in the state from February to August 2014 before receiving an experimental license from the commission. He called Uber’s actions “the most unprecedented series of willful violations in the history of this agency.”
“We find the civil penalty we adopted is sufficient for the proved violations,” Mr. Coleman said.
Commissioners Robert Powelson and Pamela A. Witmer strongly dissented, calling both the recommended and final fine “egregious, especially compared to other cases,” Ms. Witmer said.
Uber’s penalty is more than six times the previously largest fine of $1.8 million, issued by the commission last December on Hiko Energy, a New York-based electric retail supplier that was found to have spiked power rates to thousands of customers during a burst of cold weather.
In his dissenting statement, Mr. Powelson suggested the penalty should be “substantially reduced” to about $2.5 million. He cited a $500,000 fine the commission levied against Philadelphia Gas Works after a 2011 explosion that killed a 19-year-old employee, injured five others and destroyed property.
The only documented harm caused by Uber was a “small number of accidents” when the ride-share company was operating illegally, Mr. Powelson said. He also cited a “continuing willingness to comply with commission directives” since the experimental license was issued in 2014, and called Uber a “good corporate citizen” in Pennsylvania.
The PUC decision ends one of the most taxing regulatory proceedings before utility regulators, but the legal haze over ride-share companies persists. The PUC’s investigation arm initially had filed complaints in June 2014 to stop Uber and Lyft from connecting drivers in their cars with riders via a smartphone app.
Another San Francisco ride-sharing company, Lyft, settled with the PUC earlier this year for $250,000. It also was charged with operating in Pennsylvania without the needed approvals.
©2016 the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
