Washington Gas Light Company Pension Plan

Washington Gas Light Company Pension Plan

The Washington Gas Light Company Employees' Pension Plan is a qualified, trusteed, non-contributory defined-benefit retirement plan covering active employees and vested former employees of Washington Gas, including executive officers. The plan provides unreduced retirement benefits at age 65, with early retirement options available for eligible employees. The sponsor, Washington Gas Light Company, operates as a regulated natural gas utility serving the Washington, DC metropolitan area, ultimately owned by AltaGas Ltd., a Canadian energy infrastructure company. The plan's investment portfolio is managed by the pension committee and external consultants, targeting a diversified mix of public equities, fixed income, real assets, and alternative investments consistent with liability-driven investing principles for a mature defined-benefit plan. Asset allocation decisions balance return requirements against the plan's funded status and the sponsor's long-term obligations to participants. The plan participates alongside the Washington Gas Light Company Savings Plan and Capital Appreciation Plan within a master trust structure. The plan operates within the regulatory framework of ERISA and is subject to oversight by the plan's trustees and investment committee. In recent years, WGL Holdings was acquired by AltaGas Ltd., shifting the plan's ultimate sponsor from a publicly traded US utility holding company to a Canadian energy infrastructure firm. The plan's funded status and investment performance are reported through annual filings and participant notices as required by federal law. The plan's structural character is defined by its closed, single-sponsor architecture — it serves one employer's workforce with no third-party management or multi-employer pooling. This distinguishes it from public pension systems and union-sponsored plans, giving the investment committee a focused liability stream to hedge against.