Churchill County legal - 37360

 BEFORE THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION OF NEVADA 

NOTICE OF APPLICATION TO CHANGE RATES 

AND NOTICE OF PREHEARING CONFERENCE 

On September 15, 2023, Southwest Gas Corporation (“SWG”) filed with the Public Utilities Commission of Nevada (“Commission”) an application, designated as Docket No. 23-09012 (“Application”), for authority to increase its retail natural gas utility service rates for Southern and Northern Nevada. 

This Notice serves only to notify the public that the Commission has received the above-referenced filing. It is the responsibility of interested persons to review the filing and monitor the proceedings to determine their desired levels of involvement based on how this matter may affect their unique situations. The details provided within this Notice are for informational purposes only and are not meant to be an all-inclusive overview of the filing. The Commission may consider and adopt alternative proposals not contained within the filing, but which are related to the subject matter of the filing and supported by substantial evidence. 

SWG filed the Application pursuant to the Nevada Revised Statutes (“NRS”) and the Nevada Administrative Code (“NAC”), Chapters 703 and 704, including, but not limited to, NRS 704.110, NRS 704.992, and NAC 704.9716(5). Pursuant to NRS 703.190 and NAC 703.527 et seq., SWG requests that certain material in the Application receive confidential treatment. 

SWG states that the Application includes proposals it believes are necessary for the provision of safe and reliable service at reasonable rates and requests authorization to increase general rates to recover an annual revenue deficiency of approximately $61 million, or approximately 6.61 percent, in Southern Nevada, and $8.8 million, or approximately 4.01 percent, in Northern Nevada, based on a requested return on equity (“ROE”) of 10.00 percent. 

Included in the request for general rate increase are the revenue requirement associated with gas infrastructure replacement (“GIR”) and the revenue requirement associated with its Mesquite Expansion Project that was previously approved by the Commission. SWG also seeks a determination of prudency for the GIR projects and for the costs associated with the Mesquite Expansion Project. 

In addition to the request for authority to increase its retail natural gas rates, SWG requests authority, pursuant to NAC 704.9716, to continue the general revenues decoupling methodology in the form of the General Revenues Adjustment provision approved in Docket Nos. 09-04003, 12-04005, 18-05031, 20-02023, and 21-09001. 

The table below summarizes SWG’s proposed increase/decrease in rates: 

SWG is proposing to maintain the currently effective residential rate structure, a monthly basic service charge (“BSC”) and a per therm usage charge, with no changes in the BSC amounts. 

Interested and affected persons may file petitions for leave to intervene pursuant to NAC 703.578 through 703.600 at either of the Commission’s offices on or before WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2023. 

A person who wishes to participate as a commenter may file written comments pursuant to NAC 703.491. A commenter is not a party of record and shall not take any action that only a party of record may take. Pursuant to NAC 703.500, only parties of record are entitled to enter an appearance, introduce relevant evidence, examine and cross-examine witnesses, make arguments, make and argue motions and generally participate in the proceeding. 

NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that, pursuant to NAC 703.655, the Commission has scheduled a PREHEARING CONFERENCE in this docket to be held as follows: 

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2023 

10:00 a.m. 

Hearing Room A 

Public Utilities Commission of Nevada 

1150 East William Street 

Carson City, Nevada 89701 

VIA VIDEOCONFERENCE TO 

Hearing Room A 

Public Utilities Commission of Nevada 

9075 West Diablo Drive, Suite 250 

Las Vegas, Nevada 89148 

And VIA MICROSOFT TEAMS 

The parties will appear and otherwise participate in the prehearing conference either in person or remotely via Microsoft Teams. The parties should provide the email address, title/role in associated business or organization, and business address for each person who intends to participate via Microsoft Teams to Commission Hearing Officer Samuel S. Crano at 

scrano@puc.nv.gov no later than WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2023, at 2:00 p.m. 

Members of the public can access the prehearing conference at the time noticed herein either in person or via the Commission’s live stream link on its website at https://puc.nv.gov. 

The purpose of the prehearing conference is to formulate and simplify issues involved in this proceeding and set a hearing and procedural schedule. At the prehearing conference, the Commission may take any action authorized by NAC 703.655. 

The Commission is not responsible for providing clerical or administrative assistance or materials to parties during Commission proceedings. If such assistance is necessary, parties must make other arrangements for this type of assistance. 

The Application is available for public viewing at the Commission’s website: 

https://puc.nv.gov; and at the offices of the Commission: 1150 East William Street, Carson City, Nevada 89701 and 9075 West Diablo Drive, Suite 250, Las Vegas, Nevada 89148. 

A person must request in writing to be placed on the service list for this proceeding to receive any further notices in this matter. 

By the Commission, 

__/s/______________________ 

TRISHA OSBORNE, 

Assistant Commission Secretary 

Dated: Carson City, Nevada 

09/26/23 

(SEAL) 

Pub Date: October 5, 2023 Ad # 37360