Title
An ordinance, on first reading, approving a negotiated settlement between the Atmos Cities Steering Committee ("ACSC") and Atmos Energy Corporation, Mid-Tex Division ("Company") regarding the Company's 2018 Rate Review Mechanism filings; declaring existing rates to be unreasonable; adopting tariffs that reflect rate adjustments consistent with the negotiated settlement; finding the rates to be set by the attached settlement tariffs to be just and reasonable and in the public interest; approving an attached exhibit establishing a benchmark for pensions and retiree medical benefits; approving an attached exhibit regarding amortization of regulatory liability; requiring the Company to reimburse ACSC's reasonable ratemaking expenses; determining that this ordinance was passed in accordance with the requirements of the Texas Open Meetings Act; adopting a savings clause; declaring an effective date; and requiring delivery of this ordinance to the Company and the ACSC's legal counsel.
Body
On March 19, 2018, the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 4544 to approve a revised Rate Review Mechanism (RRM) Tariff for the Atmos Mid-Tex Division, effective April 1, 2018 (see attached RRM background). This revised tariff included a rate reduction due to the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act approved by Congress last year, which reduced corporate tax rates from 35 percent to 21 percent. The average monthly residential customer bill was reduced by 3.1 percent and the average commercial customer bill was reduced by 1.9 percent as a result of those changes and the reduced rates became effective on July 1, 2018.
On April 3, 2018, just two days after the revised RRM tariff process was in effect, the Company filed its first rate case under the new RRM requesting $42 million in additional system-wide revenues. ACSC rate consultants spent the past few months reviewing the rate filing and produced a report indicating that an increase of $21.7 million in revenues was justified based on the ap...
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