Cascade Natural Gas’s Washington Multi-Year Rate Plan
On March 29, 2024, Cascade Natural Gas filed a natural gas price increase request with the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission. The multiyear general rate case proposed increase is for $43.8 million annually over current prices for the first effective date, and an $11.7 million increase for the second effective date.
For an average residential customer, the increase is about $9.40 per month, or about 12.6% for the first step of the multiyear plan, and $1.74 a month, or 2% increase, for the second step.
For commercial customers, the increases would be $15.69 (4.4%) and $5.95 (1.6%).
The Company is also proposing to increase the monthly basic service charge, moving it from $5 to $10 for the first step and an additional $1.50 for the second step, putting the monthly basic service charge at $11.50.
This is Cascade’s first multiyear request, which is now required by a new law passed by the Washington state legislature that went into effect January 1, 2022. Cascade’s filing requests a $43.8 million increase to be effective March 1, 2025, and the $11.7 million increase to be effective March 1, 2026.
The main reasons for the increase request are infrastructure investment, increased operations and maintenance costs, and growth in depreciation expense. Most of the infrastructure investment is for the safety and reliability of the distribution system that is used to provide low-cost energy to customers.
Making a request to increase prices is something Cascade does not take lightly and does its best to balance the cost to customers with the amount of investment necessary to ensure safe and reliable service.
The cover letter, revised tariff sheets, and a summary of the mutli-year rate plan are available here on Cascade’s website.
The whole proceeding, which is docketed as UG-240008, is documented here on the Washington Utility and Transportation Commission’s (WUTC’s) webpage. This WUTC cite is updated frequently.