The state Public Utility Commission announced Friday it had approved a rate increase request for natural gas distribution from Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, but less than the utility had requested.

The commission voted to approve an 11.1% increase. Columbia had initially asked for a 17.54% increase. An 11.1% increase will increase Columbia’s annual revenues by $63.5 million, compared with a $100.4 million increase at 17.54%.

The commission rejected Columbia’s request to increase its monthly residential customer charge, which is a fixed fee that customers pay. Columbia proposed a 37% increase to $23; it was left unchanged at $16.75.

Columbia Gas will now need to file an updated tariff that adjusts rates in compliance with the order, commission spokesman Nils Hagen-Frederiksen said.

The adjusted rates will be retroactively effective to Jan. 23, when the rate change was originally scheduled to take effect.

“The exact calculations regarding impact on the average residential bill will be available when that revised tariff has been filed,” he said, adding that the order “directs Columbia Gas to scale back its originally proposed rates proportionately to each customer class.”

Hagen-Frederiksen said the case is unusual because no settlement was reached during the litigation.

“Instead, the opposing positions were argued to the very end of the time allowed to consider a rate case,” he said. “That’s also why the commission’s order in this case runs 300-plus pages — to address all of the unresolved issues — and why they took as much time as possible to consider the case.”

Columbia Gas made the request last April. It is reviewing the order “to determine specific bill impacts to customers,” spokesman Russell Bedell said.

“The rate adjustment approved by the PUC provides Columbia Gas with an opportunity to continue investing in the accelerated replacement of aging underground pipe and system upgrades needed to ensure service reliability and pipeline safety,” Bedell said.

The commission’s order also includes a series of future steps the company must take to address energy affordability, customer assistance programs and outreach to households who may qualify for assistance.

The company was ordered to address within six months how customer payments on assistance program bills can be pursued through a reasonable collections process, and the issue of energy affordability.

It will also have to address its efforts to reach and enroll low income customers in upcoming annual progress reports due this year and in 2022.

Bedell said Columbia will “evaluate additional steps related to energy affordability and assistance for income-qualified households.”

In response to the covid pandemic, Bedell said Columbia Gas suspended disconnections and late payment charges, and expanded eligibility for its hardship fund, which provides grants to pay off past-due bills or restore service.

“We understand that the past year has been challenging for our communities, and we are committed to providing our customers with the tools, resources, and programs to stay safe and warm in their homes,” Bedell said. “Columbia Gas offers a wide array of low-income assistance and energy efficiency programs that provide resources and tools for customers to save money and energy.”

Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania has about 436,000 customers in 26 counties.

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