MORGANTOWN — Customers could see an increase in their monthly gas bills if Hope Gas gets the go-ahead it needs.
Hope Gas, Public Service Commission staff and the PSC’s Consumer Advocate Division have agreed to a timeline to consider Hope’s rate-hike proposal. They await PSC approval.
Morgantown-based Hope Gas filed its motion for an approval order on Tuesday. It filed its rate-hike case on May 31.
The rate hike is for its Pipeline Replacement and Expansion (PREP) program. State code allows the PSC “to approve cost recovery of projects to replace, upgrade, and expand natural gas utility infrastructure that are deemed to be just and reasonable and in the public interest.”
The total proposed hike of $66,537,753 covers two Hope programs: its General Program for its core distribution system and its Gathering Program for gathering facilities.
The 2022 combined cost for the two programs was $60,076,977 — roughly $57.8 million for General Program and $2.3 million for the Gathering Program.
For 2023, Hope estimates costs of $64,037,753 for the General Program and $2,500,000 for the Gathering Program. For 2024, its Gathering Program project remains the same, while the General Program comes in at $1 less — $64,037,752.
Hope estimates that the proposed rate hike will raise the monthly residential bill by $6.45 per month — 5.84%.
The proposed timeline includes PSC staff, CAD and intervenor testimony on Aug. 30; rebuttal testimony on Sept. 13; and an evidentiary hearing on Sept. 27.
So far, CAD and the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia have petitioned to intervene.
TWEET David Beard @dbeardtdp
EMAIL dbeard@dominionpost.com
