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By Bob Weaver
The Public Service Commission freeze is ending and Dominion Hope, the
old Hope Gas
Company which sold its assets, is asking for a whopping 53% natural
gas increase for
their 115,000 customers in West Virginia. Billy Jack Gregg, head of
the Consumer
Advocate Division for the PSC said "It is pretty astounding."
The increases will dramatically affect heating costs in poor West
Virginia counties
where much of the gas has been produced during the past 100 years.
While public hearings will be held this summer, the new rates will
likely become
effective on January 1, 2002. Two-thirds of the $56 million being
asked would go for
the costs of natural gas, which have doubled in the past three
years.
Mountaineer Gas, operating as Allegheny Power, has asked for a 39%
increase and
other suppliers will likely follow suit.
The PSC has expressed concerns that Dominion/Hope have not tried to
control
operational costs.
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