The Missouri Public Service Commission has approved an agreement reached between the staff of the commission, the Office of the Public Counsel and Spire Missouri, Inc. (Spire) which will provide approximately $15 million in one-time bill credits to Spire East and Spire West natural-gas customers.
A news release says under the agreement, refunds will be credited to all current customers as a one-time credit to their bills rendered on or after August 1, 2020, and will appear as a separate line item on customer bills. According to the agreement, the one-time bill credit for Spire East residential customers will be $7.04. The one-time bill credit for Spire West residential customers will be $17.75.
The agreement approved by the commission resolves issues in Spire Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharge (ISRS) cases from 2016, 2017 and 2018 remanded from the Missouri Western District Court of Appeals.
The 2016 and 2017 cases were remanded to the commission to determine refunds to its customers of the ISRS surcharges related to Spire’s recovery of plastic components. The 2018 ISRS cases were remanded to the commission to remove from Spire’s revenue requirement the cost incurred to replace cast iron and bare steel mains and service lines not shown to be worn out or deteriorated. The Court of Appeals also mandated that a refund of these costs should be given to ratepayers by the most expeditious means available.
The ISRS appears on the bills of most natural gas companies under the regulation of the Missouri Public Service Commission. The surcharge is designed to provide the utility company more timely recovery of a portion of the expenditures it incurs to replace and extend the useful life of its existing infrastructure (pipeline system) for those projects that were completed after the company’s most recent rate case.
Spire West provides natural gas service to approximately 517,500 customers including Carroll, Howard, Lafayette, Pettis and Saline Counties in the KMMO listening area.