Utahns will be paying about $16.50 a year more to heat their homes if a rate increase requested by Mountain Fuel Supply Co. is approved by the Public Service Commission.
Mountain Fuel filed a formal request with the PSC, seeking to increase the natural gas rates by about more than $9.5 million per year. That would raise the typical Utah customer's rates from $506.28 to $522.8, said Louise Jacobsen, spokeswoman for the company.Even though rates will go up by 3.26 percent, customers will still pay less than they did in May 1983, she said. That's due to rate decreases in the intervening years.
Mountain Fuel is seeking the increase in hopes of getting an appropriate rate of return, she said. Also, the company has had "increases in (its) capital investment in plant and equipment and operating costs, in part due to record customer growth," she added.
"Mountain Fuel's current allowed rate of return does not provide a sufficient incentive to investors, who have many other options from which to choose," Jacobsen said.