Customer

In what could be a sign of things to come in the wake of tax reform championed by President Trump and his Republican allies in Congress, a state regulator from Oklahoma warned contemporaries that swift action was needed to ensure that public utility customers, not the utilities themselves, reap the benefits.

The staff of Washington’s Utilities and Transportation Commission (UTC) has recommended big rate decreases for Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy’s (PSE) natural gas and electric operations. The recommendations are in contrast to the utility’s more modest proposed decrease of $22 million (minus 2.4%) for its gas customers and an $87 million (4.1%) rate hike for electricity customers. UTC staff recommended a cut of $54 million (minus 6.6%) for gas users and a decrease of $46 million (minus 2.2%) on the electric side.

In the largest natural gas safety-related settlement in New York history, Consolidated Edison agreed Thursday to pay $153 million for damages related to an explosion in 2014 that killed eight people and destroyed two buildings.

A Rice Energy Inc. subsidiary has filed an application with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio to be certified as a competitive retail natural gas supplier.

Retail natural gas rates in Washington state are decreasing at two of the state’s major utility distribution companies, following actions Thursday by state regulators. Two other gas providers will have slight increases.

Entergy Corp. subsidiary Entergy Texas Inc. announced plans Monday to build a 993 MW natural gas-fired combined-cycle unit at its existing Lewis Creek Reservoir site in Montgomery County, north of Houston.

As first responders and utility crews worked in and around the Blue Cut wildfire surrounding a major highway artery serving Southern California on Thursday, energy analysts and state grid operating officials said the closed Aliso Canyon natural gas storage field in north Los Angeles County could become more problematic because of added stress on the grid from the wildfires.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Thursday approved yet another settlement with a retail natural gas and electricity supplier to resolve complaints about deceptive marketing and inaccurate pricing information during the brutally cold winter of 2013-2014.

Seeking to move farm natural gas service in Iowa into the 21st century, a Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. utility has proposed to state regulators that the tradition of farms drawing supplies off interstate pipelines upgrade the safety of their widely varying connections.