Commissioner Myers Votes to Reduce Bill Impact for Southwest Gas Customers

Phoenix, Ariz.— At the Arizona Corporation Commission’s July 12, 2023, regular open meeting, Commissioner Nick Myers voted with the majority of the Commission to mitigate the bill increase associated with higher-than-average natural gas prices caused by colder weather, higher commodity costs, and lower storage inventories. These higher purchased gas costs incurred by Southwest Gas (“SWG”) have resulted in an under-collected Gas Cost Balancing Account (“GCBA”) of $357 million.

In its application, SWG proposed recovering the GCBA under-collected balance over twelve months, resulting in a bill increase of approximately $12.33 per month for a residential customer with an average monthly usage of 24 therms. To mitigate bill impact, Commissioner Myers, with the majority of the Commission, voted to extend the recovery period over twenty-four months, thus reducing the bill increase to $4.98. 

In his vote explanation, Commissioner Myers further noted that earlier in the same open meeting the Commission had ordered a decrease in SWG’s Delivery Charge Adjustment Rate, resulting in a monthly bill decrease of $2.25 per month for a residential customer with an average monthly usage of 24 therms.

“Southwest Gas is certainly entitled to recover its purchased gas costs, but I’m pleased the Commission, with these two votes, was able to reduce the overall bill impact to $2.73,” commented Commissioner Myers, “This outcome reasonably balances SWG’s ability to recover its costs and the Commission’s priority to mitigate bill impact for customers.”  

For more information about these votes, please contact Amanda Hasty at ahasty@azcc.gov.