PORTLAND — NW Natural said last week that it wants to raise overall rates by 6 percent in Oregon next year to pay for operations and maintenance of its natural gas distribution system. The utility has not applied for an increase in Washington.
The Portland utility said this is the first time it has sought a general rate increase since 2011, a period when natural gas prices have been falling amid a major uptick in production.
New drilling techniques, including fracking and horizontal drilling, have made gas production far more efficient. NW Natural said its average residential customer bills are down 25 percent since 2011. The utility said it expects the proposed increase would generate $40.4 million in new revenue.
NW Natural has 730,000 customers, nearly 90 percent of them in Oregon. The utility said a typical residential customer using 53 therms a month on average would pay $60 more annually under its rate proposal; a commercial customer using 238 therms monthly would pay $180 more each year.
