Official pursuing bigger dip in gas rate

The state consumer advocate assigned to look out for utility ratepayers filed an unusual petition Friday requesting that the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada reconsider its recent decision in the Southwest Gas Corp. rate case.

Consumer advocate Eric Witkoski said in his filing that the commission's Oct. 28 decision to reduce rates only 2.5 percent was unlawful, because state regulations give the agency power to set rates even lower than it did.

Witkoski said he rarely files petitions for reconsideration, and he does so only when there's a "significant problem" with a commission decision. The case is also unique, Witkoski said, because both he and Southwest Gas agree that the commission should have lowered rates more than it did.

At issue are three months' worth of Southwest Gas data on fuel costs. In its annual filings to set the rates it will charge customers for the cost of fuel, Southwest Gas typically includes price information on fuel purchases for one year. But because natural-gas prices declined so markedly from 2008 to 2009, going from around $12 per million British thermal unit to $3 per million British thermal unit, Southwest Gas threw in an additional quarter of data. The idea: to pass on lower costs to consumers.

But the PUC balked, saying Nevada law doesn't give commissioners the authority to consider five quarters of numbers in a filing that covers four quarters. Nor did commissioners and staffers at the Bureau of Consumer Protection have time to audit the added figures, commissioners reasoned.

The commission's decision resulted in a 2.5 percent drop in the average monthly winter gas bill, from $74.41 to $72.56. If the commission had weighed the additional price information, the decrease would have been 8.3 percent, Witkoski said at the time of the ruling.

Witkoski said in his filing that the commission's decision to toss those fifth-quarter numbers overlooked the "broad ratemaking authority" granted to the agency by law. The legislators who wrote the state's utility laws were worried more about curbing rate increases than suppressing decreases, he added, and keeping rates low is a goal of utility regulations.

Witkoski also pointed to economic hardship in Nevada, noting the state's nation-leading foreclosure rate and joblessness of 13.3 percent. He said he'd like to see rates lowered no later than Jan. 1.

"This commission should consider the dire and difficult economic times facing residential customers and businesses in Nevada and reconsider its order at the nearest convenient time."

The Public Utilities Commission declined to comment on the filing.

Cynthia Messina, a spokeswoman for Southwest Gas, said the company supports efforts designed to help customers take advantage of lower gas prices as the winter heating season starts.

Contact reporter Jennifer Robison at jrobison@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4512.