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

The agency's approval, coming 16 months after the sale was announced in July of last year, 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 had pledged to bring the utility's call center, customer billing and payment and customer relations services back to the state, bringing "many needed jobs" to the Pittsburgh region.

Peoples Hope Gas Cos. LLC is a subsidiary of SteelRiver Infrastructure Fund North America LP. When the sale was announced, the buyer was Babcock & Brown Infrastructure Fund North America LP, an affiliate of Australian investment bank Babcock & Brown. In May, the fund was spun out as wholly separate entity, with a group of its executives buying out the bank's general partner stake, and renamed SteelRiver.

The deal awaits the approval of West Virginia's Public Service Commission for the sale of Dominion Hope. That sale was merged into a general rate case in January. The rate case is expected to be decided today, and therefore the sale should be approved or denied today as well.

The West Virginia commission's 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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