Commission will hold two public hearings on proposed Unitil natural gas rate increase

The Maine Public Utilities Commission will hold two public hearings this month for Unitil customers to speak on the utility’s proposed natural gas rate increase. 

Northern Utilities, which operates as Unitil in Maine, provides natural gas service to customers in southern and central Maine. 

The company filed for a distribution rate change with the commission last month, and is seeking a 7.4% annual revenue increase, or just over $10.4 million, to go into effect next June. 

According to the commission, under that proposal the average residential heating customer would see a monthly increase of about $11, and the average residential non-heating customer would see roughly a $7.50 increase a month. 

That higher rate accounts for both increased expenses to Unitil and a requested increase to shareholder profit, according to the Maine Office of the Public Advocate. The office said that Unitil’s current return on equity is set at 9.35% and the utility is requesting to raise that to 10.6%. 

Public Advocate Heather Sanborn urged Unitil customers to speak at the public hearings.

“Mainers are already feeling the strain of higher costs for housing, groceries, insurance and energy,” Sanborn said in a statement. “These hearings give customers an opportunity to tell the PUC what another increase in their monthly bills would mean for their families and budgets.”

The first hearing is Tuesday, July 21 at 5 p.m. at Portland City Hall, and the second hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, July 28, at 5 p.m. at the Lewiston Public Library.