ENSTAR seeks a Southcentral gas rate hike as two landlords move to dismiss the case

ENSTAR wants to raise what Southcentral Alaska gas customers pay, and on a typical home the increase works out to about $8.95 a month. The utility is already allowed to start collecting a version of it on an interim basis, subject to refund, while regulators decide whether it stands. Now, three weeks before the case goes to hearing, two commercial landlords are asking the state to throw the whole thing out.

The increase is a roughly 23% jump in ENSTAR's base rates — the "delivery" portion of a gas bill, covering the pipes and service rather than the gas itself. Because the gas makes up the larger share of what a customer pays, that 23% on the delivery side comes to about 6% on the total bill. In plain terms, the fixed monthly charge on a typical residential account would rise from $16.25 today to $20 on an interim basis, and to $21 if regulators make it permanent.

The two landlords — JL Properties and RSD Properties — filed a motion this month to dismiss the rate case outright, or decide it in their favor without a full hearing. The Regulatory Commission of Alaska hasn't ruled on it. If it stands, the hearing it seeks to head off is set to begin Sept. 8 and run daily through late September.

What's on the table is not just how much, but how ENSTAR gets to raise rates in the future. Alongside the increase, the utility asked regulators to approve a formula that would let it adjust rates going forward without a full rate case each time. The commission suspended that request, so it, too, is part of what the September hearing will weigh — a change that would reshape how often and how easily Southcentral gas rates can move.

ENSTAR is not the only voice in the case. The state's own consumer-advocacy arm, the Regulatory Affairs and Public Advocacy section of the Department of Law, is a party, as are Chugach Electric, Matanuska Electric and federal agencies — but only the two landlords have moved to end the case before it's decided.

The whole thing is moving slowly. ENSTAR first sought the interim increase on bills going back to July 2025, and the case itself opened in May 2025 — but at the parties' joint request, regulators have pushed the decision deadline to December 2026, meaning a rate fight that began a year and a half earlier still won't be settled until the end of this year.