The Illinois Commerce Commission approved Liberty Utilities’ proposed general increase in natural-gas rates and adopted substantive edits that limit the company’s immediate recovery of certain investments. Judge T. Kingsley, chair of the Illinois Commerce Commission, presided over the Oct. 31, 2024, meeting where the decision was adopted by voice vote.

The commission set the approved rate increase to take effect Feb. 5, 2024, but the panel said Liberty had not demonstrated that its investment in compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations was prudent. The order’s edits ‘‘deny that company recovery of the CNG fueling stations until the company can demonstrate the reasonableness of its rationale and appropriate planning processes,’’ language read into the record and approved by the commission.

The commission also incorporated an edited finding on capital structure, endorsing staff’s recommendation of 54.70% long-term debt and 45.30% common equity as consistent with commission practice and applicable standards. The edits add explicit listings of reductions in operating expenses tied to the company’s customer-first program and note an increase in depreciation expense resulting from adoption of a 10-year depreciation schedule for that program.

Commissioners approved the edits and then the order as edited by unanimous consent during the gas-items portion of the agenda. Commissioner Paradis seconded the motion to adopt the edits on the Liberty docket as recorded in the meeting transcript.

The action leaves in place the commission’s directive that Liberty must demonstrate prudence and adequate planning before it may recover CNG-related investments through rates; the order did not specify a timeline for such a showing. The commission’s action affects Liberty ratepayers in Illinois and establishes conditions the utility must meet before recovering those costs through customer billing.

The commission moved on to other agenda items after approving the Liberty edits and the amended order was entered as approved.