Administration & Regulatory Affairs

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Notice of CenterPoint Energy's Requested Gas Rate Increase

September 24, 2021 -- CenterPoint Energy Resources Corp., D/B/A CenterPoint Energy Entex, CenterPoint Energy Arkla, and CenterPoint Texas Gas (“CenterPoint”), filed an application with the Texas Railroad Commission (the state agency with regulatory oversight authority over Texas gas utilities) to recover CenterPoint’s extraordinary costs incurred in connection with the February 2021 Winter Storm Uri.  This notice is being provided to you by the City of Houston to advise of additional details.

CenterPoint’s application seeks relief in the amount of $1.14 Billion in regulatory assets.  CenterPoint proposes to recover this cost over a 10-year period.  If this proposed relief is granted to CenterPoint, the impact to an average residential gas customer’s bills will be an increase of approximately 11% each month over the 10-year period.  This proposed impact is based on average customer usage, specifically an average monthly Mcf usage of 3.40 with an average monthly bill of $38.50.

If this proposed relief is not granted to CenterPoint, CenterPoint alternatively seeks to recover its $1.14 Billion in regulatory assets through its Purchase Gas Adjustment  (PGA) over a 3-year period.  If the proposed alternative relief is granted to CenterPoint, the impact to the bills of an average residential customers will be a monthly increase of approximately 43% over the 3-year period.  This proposed impact is also based on average customer usage, specifically an average monthly Mcf usage of 3.40 with an average monthly bill of $38.50.

CenterPoint’s application is currently pending before the Railroad Commission.  The evidentiary hearing on the application is scheduled for November 2-3, 2021.

The Commission is scheduled to consider the application for a final order at its December 7, 2021 open meeting.

The Railroad Commission also has the following three open meetings scheduled before the merits hearing on CenterPoint’s application: September 28, 2021, October 12, 2021, and October 26, 2021. More information can be found at https://www.rrc.texas.gov/general-counsel/open-meetings/.

The public is free to attend any open meeting, including those before the evidentiary hearing on CenterPoint’s application.