| TO: |
Maryland Commercial & Multifamily Members |
| FROM: |
Frann Francis, Senior Vice President and General Counsel
E-mail: ffrancis@aoba-metro.org | Phone: (202) 296-3390 ext. 766 |
| DATE: |
September 9, 2019 |
| SUBJECT: |
Washington Gas Request for $27 Million Rate Increase in Maryland |
On August 30, 2019, Washington Gas, AOBA, the Maryland Office of People’s Counsel, and the Maryland Public Service Commission Staff filed a Stipulation and Settlement of all issues in Washington Gas’s pending rate case in Maryland, Case No. 9605.
The Settlement agreement provides for an increase in the Company’s annual distribution base rate revenue of $27.0 million, or approximately 8.0%. This $27 million increase includes approximately $3.0 million of costs that are currently collected under the STRIDE plan that will now be included in base rates. New rates will be effective after the PSC issues a final order in this proceeding, i.e. October/November 2019.
In its initial filing on April 22, 2019, Washington Gas had requested a $35.9 million increase in the Company's annual base rate revenues, which was updated during the proceedings to an increase of $40.1 million. Further, Washington Gas had proposed a new rate adjustment mechanism for its recovery of Safety Response costs (i.e., “Rider SRT”) which would have provided for annual adjustments to base rates. With the Company’s rapidly increasing number of leaks, these annual adjustments were expected to be significant. AOBA, OPC, and the PSC Staff all submitted testimony urging the rejection of the proposed SRT. These efforts were successful, and the Settlement agreement did not include the requested safety response surcharge.
The chart on the next page shows the estimated rate increase impact on each customer class for 1) distribution charges only and 2) distribution charges including surcharges.
An estimated total bill impact would be approximately one half of Column 2 in the chart based on the assumption that distribution charges are 50% of the total bill. However, because the monthly Customer Charge for non-residential customers was also increased by 5%, the potential increase within each customer class will vary by the customer’s specific usage. The percentages shown portray rate class averages only.
Washington Gas Request for $27 Million Rate Increase in Maryland
Bill Impact
Surcharge items included are revenues for: Non-Tariff Delivery Customers, RES amount, GRT Surcharge, Firm Credit Adjustment, Franchise Tax and Montgomery Fuel Energy Tax. These additional revenues distort the amount of the actual distribution increase. ₁ JBW-S2 Schedule A Summary, Column F ₂ JBWS1- Schedule C Page 1 of 2, Column H Maryland Case No. 9605 Settlement Average bill impact calculation provided by WGL 
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