ROANOKE GAS SEEKS 3 PERCENT RATE INCREASE

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 3, 1993                   TAG: 9303030089
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B5   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: GEORGE KEGLEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short
ROANOKE GAS SEEKS 3 PERCENT RATE INCREASE
Roanoke Gas Co. has asked the State Corporation Commission to approve a 3 percent rate increase that it said would add $1.35 to the monthly bill of the utility's typical residential customer.
The additional revenue of $1.3 million a year is needed to pay for increases in the cost of operations and for investment in modernizing older parts of the distribution system, Roanoke Gas President Frank Farmer said Tuesday.
Pending SCC action, the company can put the increase in effect on Sept. 1 at the earliest, with provision for a refund if it is not approved.
The request comes about two months after the SCC allowed the Roanoke utility more than half of a 2.8 percent rate increase it sought a year ago.
The company had asked for an increase that would generate more than $1 million in annual revenue, adding 88 cents to a monthly residential bill. Effective in August, the SCC granted a 1.6 percent increase, bringing $657,000 in new revenue and raising residential bills 66 cents a month.
That was the company's first rate increase in three years. A request for $1.2 million in additional revenue was canceled by the company in 1992.
The request filed Tuesday would reduce the company's monthly service charge for small business from $15 to $10 a month and add a service charge of $35 a month for large commercial customers. The company said 2,171 small businesses would pay lower service charges while 1,842 large companies would pay more.
Roanoke Gas has about 45,000 Roanoke Valley customers.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB