Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-10-21

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Stargas Utilities Ltd.

Natural Gas Purchase Plan and Commodity Rate Application

Effective November 1, 2020 

                                                                                                        BEFORE:                                                                                      

C. M. Brewer, Panel Chair

K. A. Keilty, Commissioner

B. A. Magnan, Commissioner

on January 12, 2021

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On September 15, 2020, Stargas Utilities Ltd. (Stargas) filed an application under sections 71 and 61(4) of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) seeking approval of its natural gas purchase plan for the contract year from November 1, 2020 to October 31, 2021 and approval to increase the commodity rate from $3.98 per gigajoule (GJ) to $7.48 per GJ, or approximately 88 percent, effective November 1, 2020 (Application);

B.      On October 21, 2020, Stargas filed an updated application with the BCUC seeking approval to increase the commodity rate from $3.98 per GJ to $7.87 per GJ or approximately 98 percent, effective November 1, 2020, based on updated forecast gas cost as on October 20, 2020;

C.      On December 15, 2020, Stargas filed further updates to its application with the BCUC on a confidential basis;

D.      By Order G-271-20 dated October 27, 2020, the BCUC set an interim commodity rate of $3.98 per GJ on an interim and refundable basis, effective November 1, 2020, and established a written hearing process and regulatory timetable to review the application. The timetable included intervener registration and one round of BCUC and intervener information requests (IRs), with further process to be determined;

E.       By Orders G-321-20 dated December 8, 2020 and G-329-20 dated December 11, 2020, the BCUC granted extensions to the deadline for filing IR responses;

F.       In response to BCUC IR No. 1, Stargas revised its requested commodity rate to $7.06 and indicated that it had executed an agreement with FortisBC Energy Inc. (FEI) that provides for the sale of Stargas’ regulatory assets and operations to FEI, subject to BCUC approval; and

G.      The BCUC has reviewed Stargas’ responses to IR No. 1 and all submissions to date and determines that a further regulatory timetable is warranted.

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC establishes a further regulatory as set out in Appendix A to this order.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this          12^th        day of January 2021.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

C. M. Brewer

Commissioner

Attachment

Stargas Utilities Ltd.

Natural Gas Purchase Plan and Commodity Rate Application