The state Public Utility Commission has approved the sale of Dominion Peoples, Pittsburgh's largest natural gas utility, to Peoples Hope Gas Companies LLC, a subsidiary of a San Francisco-based investment fund, for $910 million.

The commission approval overrides a decision by administrative law judge Robert P. Meehan, who ruled last month that the sale did not meet the test of providing "affirmative, substantial public benefits."

In a joint published statement, commissioners Tyrone J. Christy and Robert F. Powelson noted that Peoples Hope has pledged to bring the utility's call center, customer billing and payment and customers relations services back to the state, bringing "many needed jobs" to the Pittsburgh region.

Peoples Hope Gas companies LLC is a subsidiary of SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America LP, a partnership that was formed after the original buyer, Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Fund North America, was dissolved in May.

The deal, which was first announced in July of last year, still awaits the approval of West Virginia's Public Service Commission for the sale of Dominion Hope. That approval appears to be the final regulatory hurdle to be cleared. The Federal Trade Commission signed off on the sale last month.

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