Utility

Bismarck, ND-based MDU Resources Group Inc. on Thursday reported record 2020 earnings across all of its businesses, including natural gas and power utilities in eight states. CEO David Goodin and senior executives said they expect continued growth in 2021 despite the Covid-19 pandemic as construction materials and services businesses accounted for nearly two-thirds of the…

Southwest Gas Corp. officials said they are confident that natural gas has a bright future in Arizona, supported by a law passed last year to prevent local governments from imposing bans on natural gas in new construction. Arizona’s House Bill 2686, effective last August, prohibits local building permits from restricting natural gas. Lawmakers in Oklahoma,…

UGI Corp. said Monday it would acquire Mountaineer Energy Holdings LLC, which owns the largest natural gas local distribution company (LDC) in West Virginia, for an enterprise value of $540 million, including about $140 million of debt. The acquisition would hand UGI control of Mountaineer Gas Co., a single-state LDC adjacent to UGI’s existing utility…

Wholesale energy trading losses of upward of $128 million pushed Portland General Electric (PGE) into reporting a loss for 3Q2020, but CEO Maria Pope indicated on an earnings conference call that the damage from the losses has been contained to the quarter and there will be no more impact in the months and quarters ahead. …

MDU Resources Group Inc.’s utility operations, spread across eight states, as well as a pipeline business serving the the Rockies and Bakken Shale, reported increased profits during the second quarter from a year ago, beating back Covid-19’s negative impacts by using geographic diversity and a mid-size market focus. CEO David Goodin said the Bismarck, ND-based…

Oregon regulators have cleared the way for NW Natural and other natural gas utilities in the state to begin purchasing supplies of renewable natural gas (RNG) for customers. The Oregon Public Utility Commission approved co-mingling RNG and the fossil fuel version in utility operations following the approval of state Senate Bill 98 last year. NW…

The mayor of San Jose, California’s third largest city, has a preliminary proposal on the table to take over the natural gas and electric systems of bankruptcy-bound Pacific Gas and Electric Co. (PG&E) and transform it into a customer-owned cooperative utility.

Edison International’s Southern California Edison Co. (SCE) utility acknowledged its infrastructure may have caused the disruptive, fast-moving Saddleridge fire that skirted residential areas and a major gas storage facility in northern Los Angeles County last week, according to a report the company filed with state regulators.

Sempra Energy’s natural gas distribution utility Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) faces an $8 million fine from California regulators for allegedly failing to follow protocols for timely billing of thousands of customers in 2015 and 2016.