Rate

The trailing 12-month global speculative-grade default rate declined slightly to end the third quarter at 4.5%, with the stabilization of oil prices helping to stop the bleeding, according to a report issued Tuesday by Moody’s Investors Service.

North Dakota-based MDU Resources Group’s Boise, ID-based Intermountain Gas Co. has filed its first request to increase base rates since 1985, seeking a $10.2 million (4%) annual increase.

The oil and natural gas bust beginning in 2015 was worse than many thought, fueling a spike in the U.S. default rate that rivaled the telecom industry collapse in the early 2000s, both in recorded bankruptcies and low creditor recoveries, Moody’s Investor Service said.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has voted to cut a base rate increase requested by UGI Utilities Inc.’s natural gas division by nearly 54%.

Regulators with the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) ruled that a unit of Westlake Chemical Corp. cannot charge a market-based rate on its ethylene pipeline, ending a three-year dispute with one of its customers.

FERC has approved a settlement negotiated between ANR Storage Co. and its customers over storage rates, allowing both sides to avoid the expense of litigation through a rate case.

California regulators on Thursday approved nearly $950 million in increased rates to support Pacific Gas and Electric Co.’s (PG&E) natural gas storage and transmission pipeline operations.

Two utilities that supply natural gas in New Jersey will slash their rates to residential customers, thanks to an abundant supply of gas from the nearby Marcellus Shale, they said Wednesday.

On Tuesday FERC granted a hearing for an ANR Pipeline Co. rate case reflecting “a substantial increase” in the pipeline’s cost of service. The Commission also will consider a “preferred case,” proposed by ANR, which would cut its rate structure from seven to four zones. Judging by filings in the docket so far, there will be plenty to talk about.