North Carolina natural gas customers are one step closer to potentially having higher bills.
Enbridge Gas North Carolina is asking for a 12.37% increase to its residential natural gas rates, which it says would result in a $6.30 increase in the average residential customers’ monthly bill. Last week, the North Carolina Utilities Commission heard expert testimony from Enbridge employees on the need for the increase and from the state’s Public Staff, which represents customers in rate cases.
The proposed adjustment is 13% lower than the inflation rate since 2021, the last time Enbridge, then known as the Public Service Company of North Carolina, had a general rate review. (A utility company can also request to increase or decrease its rates because of changes in fuel prices. These recovery riders, as they are known, do not typically require public hearings.)
Enbridge acquired PSNC in 2023 in a $14 billion deal from Dominion Energy. According to Enbridge, it has more than 655,000 customers in 28 counties in the North Carolina.
Enbridge Gas filed for the rate review and adjustment on April 1, and the Utilities Commission held public hearings on the request over the summer, including in Asheville, Gastonia and Statesville. Enbridge has requested that the new rates go into effect Nov. 1, if approved.
Enbridge has said the rate increase is needed to recover costs associated with infrastructure investments to provide natural gas service to customers safely. The company is seeking a higher rate of return on common equity.
Michelle Boswell with the Public Staff wrote in her testimony that the utility company could reduce payroll and benefits to control expenses, noting that the company was able to operate with fewer employees during COVID-19.
But Enbridge has noted that it has gained more than 53,000 customers in North Carolina since 2021, and James Spaulding, financial and business services for Enbridge, rebutted Boswell’s testimony.
He said it was not accurate to use the average headcount from 2022 and 2023 as a basis for ongoing payroll and business expenses.
“To disallow the recovery for these positions would be detrimental to the Company’s need to staff its business adequately,” Spaulding wrote.
In an earnings call last month, management of the Calgary, Canada-based Enbridge Inc., told analysts they were optimistic about the rate review case in North Carolina.
Michelle Heritance, Enbridge’s head of gas distribution and storage, said the company is “very confident” that the case in North Carolina will be approved. She expects to see the outcome in the fall, as well as for Utah, and for new rates to take effect in those jurisdictions by next year.
“Good relationships there, transparent work, so things are good,” she said.
