The staff of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission recommended rejecting Puget Sound Energy’s requested electric and natural gas rate hikes, proposing smaller increases instead, according to a Nov. 25 press release. In June, the company applied for $139.9 million, or 6.9 percent, in additional electric revenue and an extra $65.5 million, or 7.9 percent, in…
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo on Nov. 25 announced a settlement with National Grid plc to immediately lift the moratorium on gas service in Long Island, Queens and Brooklyn. The move follows Cuomo’s notification earlier this month threatening to revoke National Grid’s operating license over its inability to provide reliable supply. The utility committed to short-term…
Staff members of the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission have reached a partial settlement with Avista on the company’s request to hike electric and natural gas rates for its customers, according to a Nov. 21 press release. The proposed settlement lays out an agreement that recovers in rates the remaining costs associated with Avista’s partial…
The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved a series of changes to Summit Natural Gas of Missouri Inc.’s rates to reflect the wholesale cost of natural gas and the company’s Actual Cost Adjustment factor, according to a November 12 press release. For its Gallatin Division, residential customers will see a rate decrease from $0.43 per hundred cubic feet…
The Michigan Public Service Commission on Nov. 14 announced that the state’s utility customers will benefit from about $4.1 billion in refunds, following the final round of adjustments to tally the impacts of the federal tax law, which slashed the corporate income tax rate to 21 percent from 35 percent effective Jan. 1, 2018. The agency…
The Public Utility Commission of Texas approved a settlement against a retail electric provider, concerning over-billing of customers and ordering the payment of $35,000 in administrative penalties as well as refunds to 7,610 customers, according to a Nov. 14 press release. The retail energy provider had already provided refunds totaling about $10,500 to almost 40,000 of…
The Illinois Commerce Commission announced that Christy George has been named as its new Executive Director, according to a November 15 press release. When taking over on November 18, 2019, she will be the first female executive director, not serving in an interim capacity, to supervise the Commission Staff and oversee the management of the…
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission approved PPL Electric Utilities Corporation’s plan to return $44 million in federal tax reform savings to customers in the form of a credit on their monthly bills during 2020. The amount, accumulated during the first six months of 2018, is in addition to the refund that the company is already…
The Maine Public Utilities Commission established new standard offer electricity prices that will lower rates for customers of Central Maine Power Company and Emera Maine, effective for a twelve-month term beginning January 1, according to a Nov. 13 press release. Residential and small businesses will see a 19-20 percent cut in their bills while medium…
The California Public Utilities Commission opened an investigation to determine whether the state’s investor-owned utilities prioritized safety and followed the commission’s regulations during their proactive power shutoffs in late 2019 to avoid the risk of power lines starting wildfires, according to a Nov. 13 news release. The agency will review the impacts of these events…
PJM Interconnection LLC and its members are prepared to meet the forecasted winter electricity demand across 13 states and the District of Columbia, according to a Nov. 7 press release. The nation’s largest grid operator forecasts peak demand at around 134,000 megawatts this winter compared to the grid operator’s all-time winter peak of 143,434 megawatts, which…
The share of U.S. electricity sales by competitive suppliers increased slightly since 2013 following over a decade of steady growth, according to a Nov. 1 report from the U.S. Energy Information Administration. While customer choice programs use competition to lower power prices and introduce new service products, not all customers pay less for purchasing power through…