Reflecting higher wholesale costs for fuel over the past 12 months and estimates of what the future holds, Sierra Pacific Power Co. Monday made its annual mandatory natural gas deferred-energy filing with the Nevada Public Utilities Commission, seeking a 10% boost in retail gas rates, effective Dec. 1. The Sierra Pacific Resources’ Reno-based utility said the filing reflects the “continuing high energy costs around the country.”

If approved by the PUC, Sierra Pacific Power said a typical residential gas utility customer would pay an added $8.26/month. Before the regulators make a decision, the utility’s projections of future natural gas prices “will be thoroughly reviewed” by state regulatory and other stakeholders, a utility spokesperson said.

“Sierra Pacific continually updates its costs from natural gas suppliers and will ask the PUC to have the opportunity over the next six months to update its price projections and revise its filing in the event that natural gas prices change, and to determine whether a decrease or increase in prices would more accurately reflect the current marketplace,” the spokesperson said.

The filing seeks to recover costs the company already has paid to its suppliers since April last year, and it also sets a new forward-looking rate based upon the projected price of natural gas next winter, the utility said.

“Unfortunately, natural gas prices have continued to rise nationwide, the same as other energy sources like oil and gasoline,” said Mary Simmons, external affairs vice president for the utility. The company is required to make its annual natural gas filing each May, and over the next seven months the filing will be subjected to an audit and public hearings.

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