PURSUANT TO THE PROVISIONS OF THE State Administrative Procedure Act, NOTICE is hereby given of the following proposed rule:
Proposed Action:
The Commission is considering a proposal filed by Corning Natural Gas Corporation (Corning) to make various changes in the rates, charges, rules and regulations contained in its Schedule, P.S.C. No. 7—Gas.
Statutory authority:
Public Service Law, sections 5, 65 and 66
Subject:
Major gas rate filing.
Purpose:
To consider an increase in Corning's gas delivery revenues of approximately $5.9 million or 44.7%.
Public hearing(s) will be held at:
10:00 a.m., Dec. 5, 2016 and daily on succeeding business days as needed at Department of Public Service, Agency Bldg. Three, 3rd Fl. Hearing Rm., Albany, NY. (Evidentiary Hearing)*
*On occasion, there are requests to reschedule or postpone evidentiary hearing dates. If such a request is granted, notification of any subsequent scheduling changes will be available at the DPS website (www.dps.ny.gov) under Case 16-G-0369.
Interpreter Service:
Interpreter services will be made available to hearing impaired persons, at no charge, upon written request submitted within reasonable time prior to the scheduled public hearing. The written request must be addressed to the agency representative designated in the paragraph below.
Accessibility:
All public hearings have been scheduled at places reasonably accessible to persons with a mobility impairment.
Substance of proposed rule:
The Commission is considering a proposal filed by Corning Natural Gas Corporation (Corning) to increase its gas delivery revenues for the rate year ending March 31, 2018, by approximately $5.9 million or 44.7% (or a 24.6% increase in total revenues). The proposed revenue requirement includes the transfer to base rates of approximately $2.6 million of costs (property tax and other deferrals, plus carrying charges on certain plant additions) which are currently being recovered through customer surcharges. Corning also proposed a three year case with supporting increases of approximately $1.2 million and $0.7 million for the rate years ending May 31, 2019 and May 31, 2020, respectively. Corning proposes a levelized approach that would increase revenues by approximately $3.5 million in the rate year and each of the two subsequent years. Using its levelized approach, Corning estimates an increase of about $98.60 (8.7% on the total bill) for an average residential heating customer. The initial suspension period for the proposed filing runs through and including November 13, 2016. The Commission may adopt, reject or modify, in whole or in part, the relief proposed and may resolve related matters.
Text of proposed rule and any required statements and analyses may be obtained by filing a Document Request Form (F-96) located on our website http://www.dps.ny.gov/f96dir.htm. For questions, contact:
John Pitucci, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, (518) 486-2655, email: john.pitucci@dps.ny.gov
Data, views or arguments may be submitted to:
Kathleen H. Burgess, Secretary, Public Service Commission, 3 Empire State Plaza, Albany, New York 12223-1350, (518) 474-6530, email: secretary@dps.ny.gov
Public comment will be received until:
Five days after the last scheduled public hearing.
Regulatory Impact Statement, Regulatory Flexibility Analysis, Rural Area Flexibility Analysis and Job Impact Statement
Statements and analyses are not submitted with this notice because the proposed rule is within the definition contained in section 102(2)(a)(ii) of the State Administrative Procedure Act.
