HARRISBURG – Attorney General Josh Shapiro is announcing today that a major gas utility company has improved its services for Spanish-speaking customers after his office’s vigorous effort. During his “Latina Women in the Workplace” listening session, Attorney General Shapiro learned it was difficult for Spanish-speaking members of the Lehigh Valley community to navigate UGI Utilities’ English-only automated phone messaging system.
Shapiro took these concerns to UGI, emphasizing the need for equal access to consumer resources. UGI agreed to make the necessary changes, and its automated phone messaging system is now available in Spanish for Spanish-speaking UGI customers.
“There are 837,000 people in Pennsylvania who primarily speak Spanish. It’s important they have access to the same information English speaking consumers do. Our Spanish speaking friends and neighbors in the Lehigh Valley need to have the ability to report problems to their utility company without fear of a language barrier,” said Attorney General Josh Shapiro. “I’m pleased UGI has expedited needed changes and provided equal access to their system.”
“We appreciate the Attorney General bringing this issue to our attention,” said Robert Stoyko, vice president of customer relations at UGI Utilities Inc. “UGI has long offered a variety of services and programs for our Spanish-speaking customers, including a real-time translation service. Following our interaction with the Attorney General, UGI enhanced and expanded our automated system to accommodate our Spanish-speaking customers as well. We thank the Attorney General for his collaboration on this issue and for his continuing commitment to all consumers across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.”
UGI customers can call (800) 276-2722 and select option “2” to hear the phone menu in Spanish.
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