UGI Utilities, Inc., Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas distribution utility, will add more than 100 new full time field construction jobs to support its commitment to enhancing and expanding its pipeline infrastructure in Pennsylvania.
UGI serves more than 586,000 natural gas customers in 45 counties in Pennsylvania and one county in Maryland.
These jobs will support UGI’s multi-year $1.2 billion infrastructure betterment initiative. The focus of this initiative is to replace cast iron and bare steel pipelines with facilities constructed of contemporary materials.
“UGI has committed to the accelerated replacement of all of its cast iron and bare steel mains,” stated UGI Utilities CEO and President Robert F. Beard. “While we will add new positions across the UGI service territory, we will begin adding new jobs in communities located within the UGI-Gas Division service area, which has the largest anticipated increase in construction activity.”
UGI-Gas Division serves such communities as Allentown, Bethlehem, Reading, Lancaster and Harrisburg.
“The recruitment process has already begun,” said Beard. “UGI’s Human Resources and Operations Departments are working with trade and technical schools within our service territory, and also are participating in excellent programs like Helmets to Hardhats to identify and recruit good candidates for UGI’s field staff.”
Beard stressed these are highly-skilled positions that will go through extensive training at UGI to meet not only company requirements, but those of regulatory agencies such as the U.S. Department of Transportation and OSHA. Beard said that in addition to the 100 plus field jobs, UGI also plans to add supervisory, management and training positions.
In addition to working on enhancing current facilities, the new UGI field employees will assist in extending the Company’s facilities to new customers. UGI has responded to customer requests and has added more than 58,000 customer accounts, including residences, businesses, industries, schools and fleets over the past five years. Thanks in large part to Pennsylvania-produced natural gas from Marcellus Shale, customers have seen decreases of more than 30 percent in their gas bills since 2008. Combined with the environmental benefits of natural gas versus other fossil fuels, this has led to unprecedented demand for the fuel.
UGI Utilities has headquarters in Reading, Pennsylvania. Customers interested in additional information visit the UGI website at www.ugi.com; on Facebook at www.facebook.com/ugiutilities; Twitter at www.twitter.com/ugi_utilities.