Nevada natural gas customers could see big rate increase next year

Southwest Gas is seeking to raise rates for Southern Nevada customers by 6.6 percent beginning next year.

If approved by the Public Utilities Commission, the average customer in a single-family home would see monthly bills increase by $8.14. The average apartment resident in the Southern Nevada would see monthly bills increase by $4.50.

Southwest Gas recently filed an application with PUC to raise its annual rates to increase its revenue in Nevada by just under $70 million, with the vast majority of that coming from Southern Nevada ratepayers.

To accomplish that, Southwest Gas also is looking to raise rates for Northern Nevada customers by 4 percent. That would cause bills of the average customer in a single-family home to increase by roughly $5.80 and for apartment customers by $2.53.

Southwest Gas is also requesting that it can get a rate of return — how much it can profit — of 7.27 percent. The company said that roughly over the last year its rate of return was 5.05 percent for Southern Nevada and 5.36 percent for Northern Nevada.

In its application the company said its requesting these increases to rates since its existing charges aren’t “sufficient to recover its operating costs or provide the company with the opportunity to earn a fair and reasonable rate of return on its investment in order to attract the capital necessary to ensure the continuation of reliable service to present and future customers at reasonable rates.”

Southwest Gas also outlined that the higher revenue will go to long term investments, changes and increase in the cost of past investments as well as to address the changes in the number of customers it has to serve.

PUC regulations require the commission issue a decision on a general rate case 210 days after it’s first filed, so a decision on the Southwest Gas application could come sometime in March or April.

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on X.