Retail

SCANA Corp. principal subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) has filed with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC) for a 2.53% overall increase in its retail natural gas base rates.

Although wholesale natural gas prices increased month-over-month for the first time this year, June retail gas bills in Colorado will be 30% lower than they were in the same month last year and they will drop 17% from their current levels in May, according to Xcel Energy, which operates the largest combination gas and electric utility in the state.

Minneapolis-based Xcel Energy’s Colorado utility retail natural gas bills in May should be 38% lower than this month overall — 39% lower for residential customers and 45% lower for small businesses than they were last May, the utility holding company said last Friday. The commodity rate in May 2008 was three times higher than what is projected for this May, Xcel said.

San Diego, CA-based Sempra Energy’s two utilities are the first in California to react to the increasingly sour economy in its headquarters state and nationwide, urging its retail utility customers Wednesday to seek various assistance programs offered by the utilities — Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) and San Diego Gas and Electric Co. (SDG&E).

FERC has approved a stipulation and consent agreement requiring NorthWestern Corp. and its subsidiary NorthWestern Services LLC (NWS) to pay a civil penalty of $450,000 for self-reported violations of the shipper-must-have-title (SMHT) requirement and to submit semiannual compliance monitoring reports for one year.

SCANA Corp. principal subsidiary South Carolina Electric & Gas Co. (SCE&G) Friday filed with the Public Service Commission of South Carolina (PSC) for a 0.87% overall increase to its retail natural gas base rates.

All of California’s major private-sector utilities now have programs to switch their retail natural gas and electric meters to advanced, so-called “smart” technology with the announcement late last month that Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas), the nation’s largest gas distribution utility, will ask state regulators to approve a $1 billion changeout program. Generally, the advanced metering systems offer real-time information to customers, have two-way communications capability and allow management of individual appliance energy use.

Spokane, WA-based Avista Utilities filed for 9.2% electric and 3.3% natural gas retail utility rate increases from the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC), it said Tuesday. Avista cited looming capital investments as the primary reason for the increase requests.

While there are no hard estimates, an early analysis presented to state energy policymakers last Tuesday indicates the costs to California’s retail energy utility customers will increase up to 30% to pay for stepped up renewable and energy efficiency programs enabling the state to meet its highly touted goal of reducing its overall greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2010.