PSC unanimously waives gas-interruption penalty for Darling Ingredients (Valley Proteins) after staff review and company testimony
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Summary
After staff recommended a 63% reduction, the Public Service Commission unanimously granted a full waiver of a gas-interruption penalty for Darling Ingredients (formerly Valley Proteins) following staff presentation, questioning from commissioners, arguments from the Office of People’s Counsel and testimony from the company's general manager.
The Public Service Commission unanimously granted Darling Ingredients (formerly Valley Proteins) a waiver of a gas-interruption penalty at its Nov. 19, 2025 meeting.
Cameron Walton, presenting on behalf of commission staff, summarized the company's 06/23/2025 request and staff’s analysis. Walton said the interruption penalty resulted from the customer’s noncompliance with a BGE directive to cease gas consumption during the interruption period Jan. 20–23, 2025, and that staff found the customer made several good-faith efforts before, during and after the event. Staff reported the company reduced gas usage by about 63% during the event and recommended a 63% reduction in the interruption penalty, which staff calculated would yield a reduced distribution penalty of $104,498.44.
Mark Bird, assistant with the Office of People’s Counsel, urged the commission to deny the waiver without prejudice because the record indicates the company's oil backup system was not tested regularly between March 2023 and the interruption and because it is unclear from the record whether the November 2024 physical interruption test involved firing the oil system. Bird said consistent standards should apply for waiver decisions and indicated concern that the record did not establish that lack of testing did not contribute to the noncompliance.
Robert Hudson, general manager of Darling Ingredients, described decades working at the plant, the transition after Darling's May 2022 acquisition, and remediation steps. Hudson said one boiler conversion to oil operation is complete and the second would be completed within one to two weeks, and that Darling has invested roughly $150,000 in conversions and will perform monthly four-hour oil tests on each boiler going forward. "We have complied with all the curtailments since I've been there in my 43 years," Hudson said.
Commissioners pressed staff and the company on testing frequency and redundancy. Despite staff's recommendation for a 63% reduction, the chair moved to grant the company a waiver of the interruption penalty fee; the motion passed unanimously (Commissioner McLean, Commissioner Litton, Commissioner Sushman and Commissioner Barbet all voted "Aye"). The commission then adjourned.
The record reflects staff's recommended reduction amount and the commission's final action to waive the penalty in full; the transcript does not record detailed roll-call rationale beyond the unanimous affirmations.
