PSC approves Laclede Gas rate increase

Posted on Aug 19, 2010 in News

PSC approves Laclede Gas rate increase

By Jeffrey Tomich, stltoday

Missouri regulators voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve a 2.5 percent natural-gas rate increase for Laclede Gas Co.

The $31.4 million increase takes effect on Sept. 1 and includes $10.9 million already being collected from customers through an infrastructure replacement surcharge.

Approval by the Public Service Commission was expected because groups representing Laclede customers agreed to the increase earlier this month.

The $20.5 million net increase is about 40 percent of what St. Louis-based Laclede had souight in December.

The rate increase is the first for Laclede since 2007 and would raise monthly bills for typical residential customers by an average of $2.07 a month. The calculation is based on usage of 885 therms of natural gas, most of which is used for heating during winter.

The increase covers costs other than fuel, including expenses related to repairing and maintaining a 16,000-mile network of natural gas pipelines. It also includes wages and post-retirement benefits for employees.

Laclede, Missouri’s largest natural gas utility, has 631,000 customers in the city of St. Louis and surrounding Missouri counties.

http://www.stltoday.com/business/energy/article_16a99cb6-aafc-11df-91a0-0017a4a78c22.html