If approved by the commission as filed, the request would result in an overall revenue increase of about $43.7m (or 6%).
The company said that a residential customer using 54 therms per month would see an average monthly bill increase of about $5 (or 8%), and a commercial customer using 221 therms a month would see an average monthly bill increase of about $13 (or 6%).
NW Natural president and CEO Gregg Kantor said over the last nine years, the company has streamlined its operations and kept increases in its costs to serve customers well below the inflation rate and well below most of its peers.
"Because of our cost control efforts and lower natural gas prices, even with this rate increase in place customers will be paying less for gas service than they did in 2005," Kantor said.
