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Albany NY , the New York State Public Service Commission denied petitions filed by a group of offshore wind developers and a state renewable energy trade association seeking billions of dollars in additional funding for four proposed offshore wind projects and 86 land-based renewable projects.
JUNE 14, 2015 LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, JUNE 14, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY DAVE SHEINGOLD
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A proposal to raise gas rates more than 11 percent over five years to help pay for $1.6 billion worth of upgrades to the region’s power grid is scheduled for public review Monday in Hackensack.
At 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. in the Bergen County Administration Building, state regulators will take comments on a proposal by Public Service Electric and Gas Co. to raise residential natural gas rates 11.2 percent over five years to replace hundreds of miles of aging, leak-prone gas mains and tens of thousands of gas connections to homes and businesses in its northern and central New Jersey territory, including parts of Bergen and Passaic counties.
For PSE&G, the state’s largest utility, the project would be its second major improvement proposal in the past three years.
The increase would gradually raise the average residential bill by $8.60 a month from 2016 to 2021. Small businesses, such a pizza parlor or a laundry, would see increases of about 8.2 percent, or an average of $13.46 per month, although PSE&G said increases were likely to be offset by continuing drops in the price of natural gas, which makes up the majority of gas bills in New Jersey.
The project would mark the first phase of a 30-year plan, which includes possible additional rate increases beyond the first five years, to make gas distribution safer, more durable, and better able to serve modern residential and commercial needs.
The plan comes fresh on the heels of the state Board of Public Utilities’ approval in 2014 of PSE&G’s Energy Strong program, which uses annual rate increases to help fund $1.2 billion worth of upgrades, mostly to the company’s electric grid, over three years.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/hearing-monday-on-hiking-gas-rates-1.1355640
Proposals set the stage for debate over federal health law’s impact
By
LOUISE RADNOFSKY
May 21, 2015 5:34 p.m. ET
Major insurers in some states are proposing hefty rate boosts for plans sold under the federal health law, setting the stage for an intense debate this summer over the law’s impact.
In New Mexico, market leader Health Care Service Corp. is asking for an average jump of 51.6% in premiums for 2016. The biggest insurer in Tennessee, BlueCross BlueShield of Tennessee, has requested an average 36.3% increase. In Maryland, market leader CareFirst BlueCross BlueShield wants to raise rates 30.4% across its products. Moda Health, the largest insurer on the Oregon health exchange, seeks an average boost of around 25%.
All of them cite high medical costs incurred by people newly enrolled under the Affordable Care Act.
Under that law, insurers file proposed rates to their local regulator and, in most cases, to the federal government. Some states have begun making the filings public, as they prepare to review the requests in coming weeks. The federal government is due to release its rate filings in early June.
Insurance regulators in many states can force carriers to scale back requests they can’t justify. The Obama administration can ask insurers seeking increases of 10% or more to explain themselves, but cannot force them to cut rates. Rates will become final by the fall.
“After state and consumer rate review, final rates often decrease significantly,” said Aaron Albright, a spokesman for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal agency overseeing the health law.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/health-insurers-seek-hefty-rate-boosts-1432244042