Four natural gas utilities seek big boosts in rates NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - The rate increases now being sought by the state's four natural gas utilities are higher than originally expected, according to a published report.

The utilities - Elizabethtown Gas Co., New Jersey Natural Gas, Public Service Electric & Gas and South Jersey Gas - on Wednesday filed petitions seeking emergency relief from the Board of Public Utilities.

The BPU may take action when it meets Tuesday. If approved, the new rates could take effect immediately and increase heating bills by as much as 40 percent. The higher rates are blamed mostly on rising wholesale gas prices, which have more than doubled since last year.

New Jersey Ratepayer Advocate Blossom Peretz plans to file papers Thursday urging the regulatory agency to scale back the proposed increases.

''We want to make sure customers can still afford to heat their homes,'' Peretz told The Star-Ledger of Newark for Thursday's editions. She'll ask for an interim statewide increase of only 17 percent.

Peretz will ask that the utilities be required to set up extended payment plans and expand eligibility for home heating assistance programs.

Peretz also will request that if wholesale prices drop, the utilities would be required to immediately pass on any savings to customers.

http://www.newsday.com/ap/regional/ap668.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 05, 2000