ENSTAR rate case heads to Sept. 8 hearing as customers seek dismissal

ENSTAR is asking to raise what Southcentral gas customers pay through an across-the-board interim, refundable base-rate increase of roughly 23.21%, filed under tariff TA354-4. The utility says that works out to about $8.95 a month on a typical residential bill. Two commercial landlords, JL Properties Inc. and RSD Properties LLC, want the Regulatory Commission of Alaska to throw out the case that will set what those customers pay, three weeks before it is scheduled to go to hearing.

The two percentages differ because base rates are only part of a bill. ENSTAR says the gas itself is about 80% of a typical residential bill and the delivery portion about 20%, so a 23.21% rise in base rates comes to roughly 5.77% overall. The commission's notice of the filing puts the monthly customer charge for a G1 residential account at $16.25 now, $20.00 on an interim basis and $21.00 if made permanent.

The landlords filed a Motion for Dismissal or Summary Disposition on Aug. 12. It is pending. The hearing it seeks to head off is scheduled to begin Sept. 8 in combined dockets U-25-013 and U-25-019, running daily through Sept. 25.

At issue is the method as well as the amount. ENSTAR asked the commission in 2025 to approve a Formula Rate Mechanism for adjusting rates without a full rate case each time, along with a new revenue requirement. The commission suspended both filings. The mechanism is separate from ENSTAR's gas cost adjustment, which passes through what the utility pays Cook Inlet producers and sits in its own docket.

Parties beyond ENSTAR include the Department of Law's Regulatory Affairs and Public Advocacy section, Chugach Electric Association, Matanuska Electric Association, the Federal Executive Agencies, and the two landlords, who alone have moved to dismiss the case.

The same two landlords filed a separate Motion to Compel Discovery Responses on Aug. 10; ENSTAR responded Aug. 17. That motion is also pending. The Office of the Attorney General filed prefiled testimony on Aug. 6, and ENSTAR and Matanuska Electric Association filed a Partial Stipulation Regarding Peak Reduction Credit on Aug. 17, settling one piece of the case.

The decision deadline has already moved once. Though the docket listed a statutory timeline of July 26, 2026, the commission, in Order U-25-013(13)/U-25-019(13) issued July 7, extended the suspension periods to Dec. 17, 2026 at the parties' joint request, meaning a case opened in May 2025 won't be decided until roughly nineteen months later.

ENSTAR asked for the interim increase to start on billings from July 1, 2025. Whether the commission has let it begin collecting could not be confirmed. Public comment on the tariff filing closed at 5 p.m. on May 19, 2025.

Five other gas dockets remain open around this case, including ENSTAR's storage prudence petition, denied July 8 with reconsideration pending, Hilcorp's storage certificate application, and the commission's informational docket on LNG contracting costs. Those are supply questions; the September hearing concerns what gas costs on a bill and how that cost is adjusted going forward. The commission has not ruled on either pending motion.