Peoples and the Community

Every year, Peoples supports many worthwhile causes and important community projects. We make a major impact by donating roughly $2.7 million to deserving organizations through our parent company’s charitable arm, the Essential Foundation, but do more than merely providing monetary support. Peoples employees provide thousands of hours of volunteer service to organizations within our communities. We are committed to making an impact and fostering a culture of volunteerism that supports nonprofits and betters lives for our customers and employees.

With over 1,300 employees across three states, we quite literally have our boots on the ground in hundreds of communities every day. But we don't just work in these communities — we live there, too. The same causes that are near-and-dear to your heart also resonate with our employees, which is why it's so important for us to support those organizations.

When we begin a new partnership, we ask that group, "What is going to make a difference for your organization?" We don't just want to put our logo on a banner; we want to work with our partners side by side to enable change, to drive programs, and to truly make a difference.

In 2023, Peoples President Michael Huwar served as the Corporate Walk Chair for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Pittsburgh Light The Night Walk, helping to raise more than $550,000 for cancer research and patient support. Peoples also participated in the second annual Essential Earth Day to support environmentally focused nonprofits throughout its 3-state service territory. Peoples volunteers donated approximately 830 hours of their time to organizations such as Tree Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy, the Sarah Heinz House, Riverlife, Western PA Outdoors for Heroes, Pine Grove Cemetery, and more. Combined with Earth Day efforts by sister company, Aqua, Essential held more than 30 volunteer & education events and donated approximately $500,000. Peoples volunteers planted hundreds of trees, cleaned up multiple parks, trails and cemeteries, and bonded with each other and our community partners during Essential Earth Day.

Making Lives Better is more than powering our communities; it’s protecting our planet. In addition to the volunteer work and charitable contributions, Peoples and Essential are actively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lower our carbon footprint. We’ve committed to reduce Scope 1 & 2 emissions 60 percent from our 2019 baseline by 2035, and we are well on our way to that goal. Much of that effort will be accomplished by replacing roughly 3,000 miles of older leak-prone distribution pipelines through our Long-Term Infrastructure Improvement Plan (LTIIP). LTIIP will make Peoples gas distribution network safer, more reliable, and cleaner, steadily reducing emissions as we replace and retire hundreds of miles of outdated lines each year. Take a look at our ESG Report for more details on our overall company progress.