The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted 5-0 on April 21 to investigate a proposed rate increase for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania for its natural gas service.
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania is an energy-distribution subsidiary of NiSource , which serves more than 421,000 residential, industrial and government customers in 450 Keystone State communities. Columbia had filed on March 18 (R-2016-2529660), proposing an annual increase of rates of $55.3 million – or 11.2 percent – to become effective on May 17.
Under Columbia’s proposal, the average total monthly bill for a residential customer using 70 therms of gas per month would increase from $77.33 to $86.97 (or, 12.47 percent).
The proposal is suspended until Dec. 19, 2016, and will be assigned to the PUC’s Office of Administrative Law Judge0808 for an investigation and recommended decision. More information on the ratemaking process is available on the commission’s website.
