The filing will be subject to a regulatory review and the change in rates, if approved, will not be implemented until 2011. Overall, the request is expected to increase revenues by $10.1m annually.
Since Unitil’s last distribution rate increase effective in 2006, expenses have increased while revenues have declined. Costs have especially increased in property taxes, depreciation, and storm restoration. Sales are down because of energy efficiency, customer response to energy price signals, and a downturn in the national economy, the company said.
Headquartered in Hampton, New Hampshire, Unitil is a public utility holding company. Its principal business is the local distribution of electricity and natural gas in the states of New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Maine.
