Increases in wholesale natural gas costs lead to Puget Sound Energy rate hike

OLYMPIA, Wash. – Puget Sound Energy‘s (PSE’s) natural gas rates will rise about 10 percent beginning Oct. 1 to reflect rising wholesale market prices, state regulators announced today.

The Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) approved the company’s “Purchased Gas Adjustment” filing, or PGA, which tracks market prices in natural gas and adjusts rates periodically to reflect changes in those prices. Natural gas companies in Washington must file a PGA at least every 15 months.

Based on the PGA filed Aug. 28, the average bill for a typical PSE residential ratepayer using 68 therms will rise by 10.4 percent, or $8.49 a month, to $90.61.

The increase brings natural gas rates to about the same level PSE customers paid two years ago. The PGA may go up or down reflecting the changing cost of gas in the wholesale market. Last year the UTC approved a 13 percent decrease in PSE’s natural-gas rates. Natural gas utilities in Washington are not allowed to earn a profit on gas-commodity increases.

This PGA request is separate from the utility’s general rate case, which the commission will decide later this year.

Three other natural-gas companies – Avista, Northwest Natural and Cascade Natural – have PGAs pending before the UTC. The commission will take up those proposals on Oct. 30.

PSE, the state’s largest natural-gas provider, serves more than 737,000 natural-gas customers in parts of Snohomish, King, Pierce, Lewis, Thurston and Kittitas counties.

The three-member commission is the state agency in charge of regulating the private investor-owned 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.