From the Chattanooga Times Free Press: Homeowners in Hamilton and Bradley counties who heat their houses with natural gas will pay an average $4.1
From the Chattanooga Times Free Press: Homeowners in Hamilton and Bradley counties who heat their houses with natural gas will pay an average $4.19 more a month, starting this fall, if regulators approve an annual capital cost recovery plan submitted Thursday by Chattanooga Gas Co.
Chattanooga Gas, a subsidiary of the Atlanta-based Southern Co., is asking for an average 6.22% increase in average rates to compensate for the utility’s investments over the past year to expand and upgrade its service.
“At Chattanooga Gas, we are committed to making strategic infrastructure investments which enable us to meet the evolving needs of our customers and support the ever-growing Chattanooga-area economy,” Pedro Cherry, president and CEO of Chattanooga Gas, said in a statement accompanying the company’s filing to the Tennessee Public Utility Commission. “Our ARM (annual review mechanism) filing demonstrates our commitment in working with TPUC to bring safe, reliable and affordable natural gas service that our customers expect and deserve.”
Chattanooga Gas filed a financial review of its 2022 revenues, operational costs and investments with the Tennessee Public Utility Commission. The company says it seeks to adjust 2023 rates in order to recoup the cost of work performed to meet the region’s growing demand for natural gas service while continuing to maintain a safe, reliable and affordable natural gas system.
The current filing requests rate adjustments, citing investment initiatives that strengthened the safety and reliability of Chattanooga Gas’ infrastructure, even on the coldest days of the year. On Dec. 23, 2022, Chattanooga Gas customers used 6% more natural gas than the previous winter’s peak, marking one of the highest natural gas usage days in company history.
Cherry said additional investments in 2022 helped expand natural gas service to more than 1,200 new residential and commercial customers in Hamilton and Bradley counties and helped ensure the utility met record-high winter demands during the cold snap just prior to Christmas.
Chattanooga Gas said it is limiting its rate request based on the voluntary rate cap proposed by the company and approved by state regulators two years ago for rate filings through 2024. Under this voluntary rate cap, the 2023 rate increase to the typical residential customer’s total average bill if approved would be $4.19 a month, similar to the average $4.20 per month increase granted by regulators a year ago.
The rate changes are for the delivery costs for Chattanooga Gas and do not reflect the changing commodity prices for the fuel itself.
A decision on the rate increase request is expected by state regulators in August. Any new rate adjustments likely would go into effect in September.
The Tennessee Attorney General’s consumer advocate, as well as the Tennessee Public Utility Commission, will review the 2022 revenues, operational costs and investments by Chattanooga Gas.
In testimony filed Thursday with the Public Utility Commission, Ashley K. Vette, the manager of rates and tariff administration for Southern Company Gas, said the utility agreed in 2021 to maintain its annual cost adjustments to no more than $6.8 million of rate increases each year.
The rate hikes will be shared equally across all classes, although Vette said as part of the incentive packages used to recruit Volkswagen and Kordsa, those companies will have less of an increase in their rates. Kordsa’s rate hike is capped at 5% and Volkswagen’s gas rates will not increase at all, Vette said.
Chattanooga Gas has made similar annual rate adjustments to cover its investment expenses in each of the previous three years. Despite the higher bills for consumers, Chattanooga Gas has been recognized as one of the “Easiest To Do Business With” utilities for U.S. residential customers by Escalent, a top data analytics and advisory firm. This is the first time Chattanooga Gas has earned this designation among residential customers.
Escalent also named Chattanooga Gas a “Most Trusted Brand” among utilities last year. In 2021, Chattanooga Gas was recognized as a Business Customer Champion, finishing sixth among the natural gas utilities in the study.
“This award highlights Chattanooga Gas’ efforts to provide superior customer service and value each and every day,” Cherry said in a statement.
Escalent surveyed approximately 76,100 customers from the country’s 141 largest utility companies. Utilities were scored in key areas including customer service effort, communications clarity and ease of access to and use of programs and services.
