CONCORD, N.H. (AP) – State utility regulators have approved a settlement in which customers of KeySpan Energy Corp. in New Hampshire will receive refunds after being overcharged for gas for six years.
With interest, the company’s 80,000 New Hampshire customers will get more than $3 million in refunds. The typical residential heating customer will get about $35.
The company also agreed to make a $200,000 contribution to its Low Income Energy Efficiency programs.
Refunds would be based on how long residents have been KeySpan customers and how much natural gas they used from March 31, 2006, to March 31, 2007.
The state’s three public utilities commissioners heard testimony on the agreement from staff and the company at a hearing last week.
Robert Wyatt, a gas analyst at the Public Utilities Commission, became suspicious of KeySpan’s billing methods last summer. The PUC staff started looking into the problem and found that KeySpan was using a different formula to calculate the amount of natural gas a customer uses, causing the company to overbill.
At first, regulators and the company thought the glitch happened when KeySpan bought the New Hampshire natural gas utility EnergyNorth in 2000.
But further investigation showed the company actually started overcharging seven months after the sale and that the sale most likely was not the reason, said Steve Camerino, KeySpan’s attorney.
KeySpan officials told the PUC they did not know why the company started using a different formula and did not realize the effect it would have on billing.
Steve Frink, assistant director of the PUC’s gas and water division, testified that fines are not necessary, because the company has cooperated.
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Information from: Concord Monitor, www.cmonitor.com
AP-ES-04-14-07 1612EDT
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