The Region : Gas Firm’s Rate Increase Plan Opposed

Southern California Gas Co. should not be allowed to collect its entire proposed $277-million rate increase from residential customers, the technical staff of the California Public Utilities Commission recommended. The gas company, complaining that it is losing industrial customers to lower-priced oil, has proposed new rates for natural gas that would boost the average bill for a residential customer by about 31%, or $9 a month. The big proposed increase has touched off a controversy because energy prices have fallen sharply this year and because the gas company wants to impose the full increase on residential customers rather than spread it to industrial users as well. The PUC recommendation is the first public indication of how the agency views the request.