Gas companies’ purchasing program OK’d by PUC

PROVIDENCE — A plan that will permit Providence Gas and Valley Gas companies
to extend their payments of wholesale gas over a longer period — 16 months, rather
than the calendar year, while retaining higher retail prices after wholesale prices
fall, has been approved by the Rhode Island Public Utilities Commission (PUC).
The PUC approved rate increases — up to 30 percent — last fall but delayed extending
payment until completion of scheduled hearings on the matter. A PUC spokesman
told the Providence Journal that the plan enabled the companies to “recoup their
losses, while balancing it over a longer period to lessen the impact on ratepayers.”
As part of the agreement, the PUC said, the companies agreed to increase their
contributions to the Low Income Heating and Energy Assistance Program by $333,000,
bringing their total contributions to $1.6 million. The two companies are owned
by Southern Union Co. of Austin, Texas.