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Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania requests $46.9M rate hike for pipe upgrade work

Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania Inc. on March 16 asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to let the utility collect an additional $46.9 million per year to continue its gas pipeline upgrade work.

The company already plans to spend $215 million in 2018 to upgrade aging infrastructure across the 26 counties in the utility's Pennsylvania service territory, according to a March 16 news release.

Over the past decade, the NiSource Inc. subsidiary invested over $1.6 billion in distribution system modernization and expansion work, with $1.2 billion of that sum devoted to replacing more than 922 miles of higher-risk pipe, the company said.

"We have made, and will continue to make, substantial capital investments in our system to enhance the safe and reliable system that we currently operate," Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania President Michael Huwar said in a statement.

The requested rate increase would translate to about a 9% increase in monthly gas bills for residential customers using 70 therms per month. Small commercial customers would pay an estimated 3.83% more per month, while a small industrial customer would pay approximately 31.52% more, Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania said.

The utility's most recent rate change request was about two years ago. Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania had asked the PUC for a $55.3 million increase but ultimately settled for a $35 million hike.