ENSTAR FILES NEW RATE CASE



The Regulatory Commission of Alaska (RCA) will be reviewing ENSTAR’s proposal to modify its rates and customer classes filed on June 1, 2009. ENSTAR states in its filing (TA177-4) that “a bill for a typical residential customer would increase by approximately 4.7% percent” and the filing “requests a 4.9% overall increase in ENSTAR’s total revenues.”  ENSTAR is proposing a rate design that would redefine the classes of service and require a majority of residential customers to pay a fixed rate of $28.47 for monthly service and some small commercial customers to pay $67.96 for monthly service, in addition to Gas Cost Adjustments (GCAs).  For the remaining customers, ENSTAR is proposing a combination of fixed and usage based rates, along with GCAs. 

ENSTAR’s proposal does not include its annual GCAs. GCA rates would still be filed annually with the RCA and billed as a separate line item on customer billings. Enstar's current gas cost adjustment rate is $8.7457/Mcf.  A comparison sample billing for most residential customers is as follows:

Monthly Residential Bill comparison for customer using 123ccf of Gas
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Rate
 
Usage
 
 
Current: Schedule A - Residential Service
 
 
 
 
 
Service Charge (Base)
 $0.11054
/ccf
123
ccf
$13.60
Supplier Gas cost charge (GCA)
 $0.87476
/ccf
123
ccf
$107.60
Customer Charge
 
 
 
 
$9.00
   subtotal
 
 
 
 
$130.19
Regulatory Cost Charge
 
 
X
0.27%
$0.35
 
 
Total
 
 
$130.54
Proposed:  Schedule G1 - General Service 1
 
 
 
 
 
Fixed Monthly Service Charge
 
 
 
 
$28.47
Supplier Gas cost charge (GCA)
 $0.87476
/ccf
123
ccf
$107.60
  subtotal
 
 
 
 
$136.07
Regulatory Cost Charge
 
 
X
0.27%
$0.37
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Total
 
 
$136.43


A copy of ENSTAR’s tariff filing may be downloaded from the RCA’s website by typing “TA177-4” in the Find a Matter search box or going to this link:   TA177-4

Any interested person may present written comments, statements or factual arguments relevant to ENSTAR’s proposed rate increase by writing to the RCA at 701 West Eighth Avenue, Suite 300, Anchorage, Alaska, 99501.  Comments may also be submitted via the RCA website at:  Public Comments. 



Date Issued: 6/4/2009