Media Contact: (360) 664-1116 or media@utc.wa.gov
Docket Number: UG-190210
UTC approves new rates for Cascade Natural Gas customers
New rates effective March 1
OLYMPIA, Wash. –Today state regulators approved a settlement for Cascade Natural Gas resulting in a rate increase for customers.
The three-member Utilities and Transportation Commission approved an all-party settlement resulting in a $6.5 million, or 2.8 percent, increase in Cascade’s natural gas annual revenues. The settlement cut by almost half the company’s originally requested rate increase of $12.7 million, or 5.6 percent.
The average residential customer using 57 therms a month will pay $1.45 more, for an average monthly bill of $47.46. The new rates are effective March 1.
The settlement allows Cascade to earn a 7.2 percent overall rate of return, instead of the 7.7 percent rate of return the company originally requested.
The commission received 17 public comments on Cascade’s rate increase proposal, all opposed.
In September 2019, UTC staff, Cascade, the Public Counsel Unit of the Attorney General’s Office, the Alliance of Western Energy Consumers, and The Energy Project filed the settlement agreement on the company’s request to raise rates.
Cascade’s last general rate increase was in 2018.
Kennewick-based Cascade Natural Gas Corporation serves almost 220,000 residential and business customers in 68 communities throughout the state, including Aberdeen, Bellingham, Bremerton, Kennewick, Longview, Moses Lake, Mount Vernon, Walla Walla, Wenatchee, and Yakima.
The UTC is the state agency that regulates private, investor-owned electric and natural gas utilities in Washington. It is the commission’s responsibility to ensure regulated companies provide safe and reliable service to customers at reasonable rates, while allowing them the opportunity to earn a fair profit.
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Editor’s note: A copy of the commission’s order is available at the commission’s website.