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Sweetwater council approves negotiated settlement with Atmos Energy lowering proposed RRM increase
Summary
The Sweetwater City Council approved a resolution adopting a negotiated settlement between the Atmos City Steering Committee (ACSC) and Atmos Energy Corp., Mid-Tex division, reducing the company's initially filed rate increases under its rate review mechanism (RRM).
The Sweetwater City Council on an unanimous voice vote approved a resolution adopting a negotiated settlement between the Atmos City Steering Committee (ACSC) and Atmos Energy Corp., Mid-Tex division, resolving the utility's 2025 rate review mechanism filing.
The settlement lowers the increase Atmos initially sought under its RRM filing. Sean Martin, manager of public affairs for Atmos Energy, told the council the company's original filing would have raised the average residential customer's bill by $9.34 per month and the average commercial customer's bill by $30.70 per month. "The RRM allows us to adjust our rates on an annual basis to recover the investments that we've made in our gas delivery system," Martin said. After negotiations with ACSC, the agreed rate would raise the average residential bill by $7.83 per month and the average commercial bill by about $25.73 per month.
Martin said the ACSC coalition, of which Sweetwater is a member, recommended that the city approve the settlement. The council then moved, seconded and approved the resolution; the mayor read the resolution into the record, which declares existing rates unreasonable, adopts settlement tariffs, and requires the company to reimburse ACSC's reasonable ratemaking expenses.
The resolution text read into the record also declared the action taken in accordance with the Texas Open Meetings Act and established an effective date for the adopted tariffs. Council did not record roll-call vote counts or named votes in the public audio record; the motion passed on a voice vote.
No members of the public spoke for or against the settlement during the portion of the meeting when the item was considered. Sean Martin offered to answer council questions and remained available to staff after the meeting.
The settlement proceeds under the RRM tariff the city previously approved in 2018 and, as reflected in the motion, requires Atmos to follow the attached settlement tariffs and to reimburse ACSC's reasonable ratemaking costs.
