Tuesday, April 23, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.
The state Public Service Commission has sealed an official settlement agreement in a Southwest Gas Corp. general rate case.
Customer rates won't change but service charges will increase.
Here's how it works when the new rate takes effect July 1:
The settlement gives the company a $10.6 million general rate increase in Southern Nevada and a $3.2 million increase in Northern Nevada.
The increase will take effect along with a $10.1 million decrease for a purchased-gas adjustment in Southern Nevada and a $4 million decrease in Northern Nevada.
The purchased-gas decreases will virtually offset the general rate increases approved in the settlement agreement earlier this month, resulting in no overall change in average residential customer bills in Southern Nevada. Northern Nevada customers get a 1.2 percent decrease in the average household rates.
The company was able to offer a decrease because the prices for purchasing natural gas supplies and transporting it to Nevada dropped.
As part of the settlement, the company agreed not to file another general rate increase application in Nevada before April 1, 1999.
The settlement allows an increase in the residential basic service charge from $5.60 to $6 per month and an increase to establish service from a $20 charge to $25.
In another case, the PSC also struck testimony submitted by an official in a Nevada Power Co. coal contracts case that could mean $10 million to residential customers. The commission is still hearing the complicated case that dates back to the 1980s.
State Consumer Advocate Fred Schmidt said the ruling was favorable to consumers. Still under way before the commission, the case involves misappropriated property by coal companies defaulting on Nevada Power contracts.
Schmidt said the ruling affirms the right to access utility records and denies utilities the right to present witnesses when documents are denied.
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