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Polish American Congress present awards

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Their view: Economists are much maligned

<p>The utility that supplies many residents of Northeastern Pennsylvania with natural gas for home heating asked for a $21.7 million rate hike to pay for system improvements and other customer services.</p><p>UGI Penn Natural Gas said Thursday it requested a base-rate increase from the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.</p><p>The typical residential heating customer using 91.2 hundred cubic feet of natural gas a month would see an increase of 10.6 percent to $86.87 from $78.53, the utility said.</p><p>The proposed hike runs counter to the reduction UGI PNG announced in December for its purchased gas cost rate. The utility passes on the commodity cost to customers without a markup. Customers are benefiting from a plentiful, locally produced supply from the Marcellus Shale, the utility said.</p><p>Still, factoring in the higher cost, residential heating customers would pay 39 percent less on their total average bill than when the last base-rate increase went into effect in August 2009, the utility said.</p><p>The utility has made significant investments in its system since the last increase, said Paul Szykman, UGI vice president of rates and government relations.</p><p>&#8220;UGI Penn Natural Gas anticipates investing $168 million in capital projects to upgrade our system over the next two years, bringing our total investment to over $400 million since the last base rate case,&#8221; Szykman said in a press release.</p><p>The utility will continue to focus on replacing pipelines and also make upgrades to a new customer information system, he said.</p><p>If it is approved by the PUC, the pending rate increase will show up in the delivery charge component of a customer&#8217;s monthly bill. UGI PNG charges the fee to pay for the operation and maintenance of its distribution system, emergency response and customer services.</p><p>The requested start date for the hike is March 20, but it could be pushed back to October to give the PUC time to conduct an investigation and hold public hearings.</p><p>The utility also provides service commercial heating and industrial customers.</p><p>The bill for a typical commercial heating customer who uses 29.6 thousand cubic feet per month will increase $22.35, or by 11.5 percent, to $216.60 from $194.25 per month.</p><p>The bill for a typical industrial customer who uses 97.4 thousand cubic feet per month will increase $65.17, or by 11.6 percent, to $626.23 from $561.06 per month.</p><p>UGI Penn Natural Gas serves more than 166,000 customers in 13 counties throughout northeastern and central Pennsylvania, including customers in and around Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Williamsport.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta>Hike would offset distribution system improvements</subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>Rate hike information</strong></p><p>Customers and interested parties may view UGI Penn Natural Gas&#8217; base rate filing materials on the company&#8217;s website, <a href="http://www.ugi.com" target="_blank">www.ugi.com</a>, and clicking on the &#8220;rate filing&#8221; tab on the home page. Customers with questions may also call UGI Penn Natural Gas toll-free at 1-800-276-2722 to receive further information on the proposed rate increase or to find out what actions they make take.</p><p>Additional information about UGI is available at www.ugi.com on Facebook at <a href="http://www.facebook.com/ugiutilities" target="_blank">www.facebook.com/ugiutilities</a>; and Twitter at <a href="http://www.twitter.com/ugi_utilities" target="_blank">www.twitter.com/ugi_utilities</a>.</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLJerryLynott</p></shirttailMeta></div>

UGI Penn Natural Gas asks for $21M rate hike to improve distribution system