Northwest Natural Gas Company, dba NW Natural (NYSE: NWN), today reported the company has filed an all-parties settlement with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission regarding the company’s general rate case filed on March 28, 2008. The stipulated agreement requires approval by the WUTC. Approximately 10 percent of NW Natural’s customers are in Washington.
Parties to the settlement include NW Natural, the staff of the WUTC, the Public Counsel Section of the Washington Attorney General’s Office, Northwest Industrial Gas Users, The Energy Project, and NW Energy Coalition.
“We are pleased that all parties could reach a settlement in this rate case,” said Gregg Kantor, president and chief operating officer of NW Natural. “Since our last rate increase four years ago, we’ve worked hard to control costs. This settlement reflects these efforts and still allows the company to recover its increased investment in the distribution system in Washington.”
Under the settlement, NW Natural’s bill for Washington customers would increase about $3.20 per month for the average residential customer. Annual revenue requirements would increase by approximately $2.7 million or 3 percent. As part of the stipulation, the company would be allowed a return on equity of 10.1 percent and a rate of return of 8.4 percent. Implementation of these new rates, if approved by the WUTC, would begin on Jan. 1, 2009. NW Natural also agreed not to file a new rate case in Washington until at least January 2010.
As part of the settlement, the company agreed to convene an energy efficiency advisory group and to work with that group to offer new energy efficiency programs to Washington customers. After implementing these new programs, the company may propose to implement a lost margin recovery mechanism. The parties also agreed that NW Natural may renew its request to initiate a decoupling program upon completion of another utility’s trial program in Washington.
NWN has also agreed to convene a working group to develop a low income rate assistance program and to review and, if necessary, modify, the Company's existing low income weatherization program.
About NW Natural
NW Natural is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and serves about 657,000 residential and business customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. It is the largest independent natural gas utility in the Pacific Northwest. NW Natural has approximately $2 billion in total assets, which includes about 16 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of underground gas storage capacity within its service territory at Mist, Ore., and plans to build a 20 Bcf underground gas storage facility near Fresno, Calif., as well as a proposed 220-mile pipeline to potentially serve customers in Oregon and the West Coast. For more information about NW Natural, please visit www.nwnatural.com.
Contacts:
Bob Hess (Investors), 503-220-2388
bob.hess@nwnatural.com
or
Kim
Heiting (Media), 503-220-2366
kah@nwnatural.com
