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Yankee Gas' rate hike proposal could raise consumer bills by $46 a month starting next year

Yankee projects it will make approximately $209 million from the adjusted rates in a single "rate year."

HARTFORD, Conn. — Yankee Gas Services Company in Berlin is proposing a rate hike that could raise Connecticut customers' bills by over $46 a month starting next November.

Yankee proposed a four-year plan to the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA) Tuesday that would increase total revenue by 29% and increase distribution revenue by 49%. For consumers, Yankee said resident consumers' annual bills will be impacted by 43%, or equal to an average monthly increase of $46.74.

Yankee projects it will make approximately $209 million from the adjusted rates in a single "rate year."

However, Yankee's proposal includes crediting residential heating customers with around $37.4 million in deferred gas non-firm margin to reduce annual bill impact by about 38%. Gas companies earn non-firm margin credits through interruptible and off-system sales, according to the state's Office of Legislative Research.

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This rate hike proposal still caught the eye of Connecticut's Attorney General, who said he will aim to keep Yankee Gas and its owner, Eversource, accountable and to protect Connecticut residents from rising utility prices.

"You don’t have to be a lawyer to see some basic obvious overreach in this filing. They’re asking for profits that are completely out of whack with other public utilities, including tacking on a non-starter ‘regulatory risk premium’ to account for the fact that our public utilities don’t like oversight and accountability," Attorney General William Tong said in a statement Tuesday.

Yankee said in the application that the rate hike would help offset a multitude of expenses in addition to inflation, including operating costs to stay within regulation requirements, pipeline safety requirements, and staffing demands.

"With respect to other cost factors, depreciation rates need to be adjusted to reflect the capital work on the system and there are previously authorized deferred costs that have been incurred by the Company for recovery in a future rate case, which are now due for recovery," Yankee added.

If approved, the plan would take effect on Nov. 1, 2025, and continue until Oct. 31, 2029.

Tong vowed to "comb through every page of this application and will be there at every step of these proceedings to fight for Connecticut families."

According to Tong, Yankee Gas has 222,800 residential customers, 28,000 commercial customers, and 1,500 industrial customers in 85 Connecticut towns.

Read Yankee Gas' rate hike application to PURA here.

Leah Myers is a digital content producer at FOX61 News. She can be reached at LMyers@fox61.com

   

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