Liberty Utilities is proposing an increase in gas rates for many of its heating customers. The plan would add about $220 dollars per year to the average customer’s bill.
The proposal is part of the company’s rate case, a process they go through every few years to determine what they can charge customers for delivering gas. The cost of the gas itself – called the “supply” cost – is managed separately.
Liberty’s rate case process will continue for the next year. But in the meantime, the company is also proposing a temporary rate increase of about $100 a year, for the average customer.
In a filing with the Public Utilities Commission, Liberty says it has invested more than $179 million in its distribution system – the system that helps get gas where it needs to go – since the last big process of rate changes, and most of that money isn’t reflected in its current rates
Don Kreis, the state’s consumer advocate, said he doesn’t accept those numbers at face value.
“That’s a huge number,” he said.
He also said the company’s request for its return on equity – which helps determine how much profit shareholders are entitled to – was high, at 10.35%. Given that utilities are a low-risk industry, and customers are essentially “captive,” Kreis said their return on equity should be lower.
“I am the Captain Ahab of bloated utility return on equity,” he said, referencing the protagonist at the center of the whaling novel, Moby Dick. “And I have got my harpoon at the ready.”
Meanwhile, the New Hampshire Department of Energy says it’s in the process of reviewing Liberty’s proposal.
“Rest assured that the Department of Energy will vigorously advocate on behalf of New Hampshire’s public interest as this proceeding moves forward at the Public Utilities Commission,” said Chris Ellms, the department’s deputy commissioner.
The Public Utilities Commission scheduled a first meeting on the proposed rates for Sept. 21, and a hearing on the company’s request for temporary rates for Sept. 27.
