MORGANTOWN – The state Public Service Commission this week denied a request by Hope Gas to delay the PSC’s decision on Hope’s Pipeline Replacement and Expansion Program – PREP – rate-hike proposal, and approved new rates that will take effect Nov. 1.
Hope told the PSC on Oct. 8 that it and the natural gas producers who transport gas on its lines were unable to reach a settlement on their rates. Hope, PSC Staff, the Consumer Advocate Division, Diversified Gas & Oil Corporation and the Producers Issues Committee of the Gas and Oil Association of WV all testified in the case.
Hope told the PSC, “that despite Hope and producers giving prompt and focused time and attention to settlement they are not able to reach agreement on the terms of settlement to resolve this proceeding.”
So on Oct. 9, Hope asked for an extension on a PSC decision. The PSC order was due by Oct. 27 so the new PREP rates could take effect Nov. 1. Hope asked the PSC to defer its order until Feb. 24, 2026, with Hope’s new PREP rates to take effect Feb. 25.
In its order issued this week, the PSC denied the request, simply saying it had enough evidence to issue an order.
For residential customers, the new PREP rates are less than what Hope requested by more than an alternate proposal by PSC staff.
The average legacy Hope residential customer’s monthly bill will increase by approximately $1.85 (2.16%).
The average residential bill for former customers of companies acquired by Hope: former Peoples Gas WV, $1.83 (2.32%); former Southern Public Service Company, $1.46 (2.63%); former Standard/Bazzle Gas Company, $1.62 (2.35%); former Consumers Gas Utility Company, $1.53 (2.21%).
PREP program charges are authorized in state code for “cost recovery of projects to replace, upgrade, and expand natural gas utility infrastructure that are deemed to be just and reasonable and in the public interest.” Hope’s PREP rates cover two programs: its General Program for its core distribution system and its Gathering Program for gathering facilities.
The PSC also denied Hope’s request to resurrect its Customer Service Piping Program for a three-year pilot. Customer piping runs from a connection point at the main gas line to the customer’s meter. The customer is typically responsible to cover the cost of replacing this line.
In its pilot, Hope proposed to cover these costs for 28,277 customers acquired in its recent purchases of other companies. Hope first tried this pilot program from 2015-2018, when the PSC terminated it.
PSC staff opposed resurrecting it because it “shifts the cost recovery for the customer service line from the individual customer historically responsible for the customer service line to all customers resulting in an unnecessary additional rate increase for utility investments” contemplated under state rules.
The PSC agreed with staff, noting that approving a program that applies only to a subset of customers could create undue discrimination between similarly situated customer groups.
For its gathering program, Hope had requested a revenue requirement of $3,867,653. PSC staff applied several accounting and ratemaking adjustments, which lowered the overall PREP revenue requirement to $1,765,161. THE PSC said the gathering PREP should be reevaluated to determine if Hope should be spending its planned $33 million investment on alternative projects that are more economical and could expand the quantity of pipeline remediations to encourage the timely replacement of aging infrastructure to enhance system safety and reliability.
“We wish to make it clear,” PSC said, “that our decision to adopt the staff revenue requirement calculations does not preclude Hope from proposing different ratemaking treatment in future proceedings.”
Hope also has before the PSC its base-rate case filed on April 30. This is its first base-rate case since 2020. The PSC has received 852 letters of protest against Hope’s proposal. (For perspective, Hope serves 125,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in 35 West Virginia counties.)
The proposed hikes for residential customers in this case are: existing Hope Gas, $21.10 (25.41%); former Peoples Gas, $27.17 (35.42%); former Southern Public Service, $33.74 (60.77%); former Standard/Bazzle, $28.46 (40.39%); former Consumers Gas, $22.25 (33.61%).
A third rate case, Hope’s 2025 Purchased Gas Application, accounts for Hope’s costs to buy the gas it distributes. It received interim approval from an administrative law judge on Oct. 8 and the 20-day period to file objections expired with none filed. These new rates will also take effect Nov. 1.
Here are the monthly increases for the various groups of residential customers: Hope Gas (legacy), $6.38 (7.33%); former Peoples Gas, $6.36 (7.88%); former Southern Public Service, $5.36 (9.38%); former Standard/Bazzle, $5.80 (8.17%); former Consumers Gas, $5.54 (7.83%).
