Portland

Portland, OR-based NW Natural received less than one-third of the general rate increase it had been seeking as the Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) on Monday approved an $8.7 million annual increase, or 1.28%, for the state’s largest natural gas utility.

Portland General Electric Co. (PGE) said Monday that its recent request for proposals (RFP) for power generating resources, including several hundred megawatts of natural gas-fired baseload power, has resulted in 32 bids from 15 different projects, totaling more than 9,000 MW. Oregon state regulators are scheduled to discuss the draft RFP at a public meeting Sept. 25.

Portland, OR-based NW Natural retail residential and commercial/industrial customers will share in a $35 million one-time credit on their utility bills in June, resulting from the continuing drop in wholesale natural gas prices. The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) approved credits that will average $36.58 for residential customers and will range from $714 to $20,000 for industrial customers. The utility asked the PUC to approve the credit as a way of passing along lower gas price savings accumulated from Nov. 1, 2011 through March 31. State regulators also indicated that there may be another credit stemming from lower gas costs in the second quarter. In addition, the PUC approved a separate $3.1 million credit for storage and transportation activities that will further reduce the average residential customer’s June bill by nearly $10.

Portland, OR-based NW Natural has accelerated a utility rate decrease for its distribution utility customers in Oregon and Washington, asking regulators in both states to approve rate decreases totaling $39 million. Separately last Friday, CEO Gregg Kantor also reported during a 1Q2012 earnings conference call that the company’s joint venture drilling program with a unit of Encana Corp. and a merchant gas storage project in California passed important milestones during the quarter.

Despite current low prices and decreased volatility that are making natural gas storage plays unattractive, Portland, OR-based NW Natural is sticking with its strategy for operating and expanding merchant storage facilities in the West.

Portland General Electric (PGE) issued a draft request for proposals (RFP) Thursday seeking bids in the second quarter for up to 950 MW of additional generating capacity that would be mostly natural gas-fueled. The new power sources are expected to come online during a five-year period (2013-2017).

Portland, OR-based NW Natural has filed a $43.7 million general rate increase request with Oregon’s Public Utility Commission (PUC), the first such filing in nearly a decade. If approved, the rate change would mean an increase of about 6%, or an average of $5 monthly, for residential customers and $13 monthly for business customers.

So far its effort to reach outside the regulated utility structure with a new natural gas storage field in Northern California is not paying off for Portland, OR-based NW Natural, but CEO Gregg Kantor expressed confidence that things will turn around during a conference call Wednesday announcing second quarter earnings that were down quarter over quarter.

Bellevue, WA-based Puget Sound Energy (PSE) has signed a deal with Portland, OR-based Iberdrola Renewables for winter-only electricity supplies from the independent power provider’s Klamath generating facility in Southern Oregon. PSE signed up for 100 MW to be delivered starting Jan. 1 next year.