Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp.‘s Cheyenne Light, Fuel & Power utility said it has filed with the Wyoming Public Service Commission to recover natural gas and electric infrastructure costs with its first general rate increase request since 2008. The company seeks annual increases of $2.6 million, or 6.7%, for gas utility customers and $5.9 million, or 5.9%, for power consumers. The combination utility also is seeking a 10.9% authorized return on equity and a 54-46% equity-to-debt ratio as part of the rate request to be effective April 1 next year. Residential customers using both electricity and gas would face a combined average monthly utility bill increase of close to $10 ($5.14/month for gas and $4.33/month for electricity). Cheyenne Light serves 34,600 gas customers and 39,600 electric customers.

Sempra Energy‘s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) utility has hired consultant Capgemini to help it change to a smart metering system for its more than 5 million customers. SoCalGas gained state regulatory approval last year for its proposal for installing advanced meter systems (see Daily GPI, April 9, 2010). Last month major utility consumer groups asked the California Public Utilities Commission to reverse its approval of the gas-only utility’s meter program, arguing more focus and money should be centered on natural gas pipeline safety (see Daily GPI, Nov. 18). Capgemini will provide a variety of advanced meter project services, including establishing processes and staffing for a project management office and outlining technical and business requirements for the project, along with “managing multiple system releases and developing project strategies for the test and organizational change management aspects of the project.”

©Copyright 2011Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.