The Public Service Commission on Dec. 17 accepted revised tariff pages filed by Chesapeake Utilities in Maryland to update its System Improvement Rate for the 12-month period beginning Dec. 1, 2025, through Nov. 30, 2026. The commission approved the tariff after staff reported its accounting and engineering reviews found the proposed rates and projects acceptable.

Cameron Walton, speaking on behalf of commission staff, said the filing proposed a decrease in the current SIR from $0.102 per therm to $0.052 per therm and that the Ocean City-specific customer-equity recovery (CER) would fall from $0.103 per therm to $0.0664 per therm. "Staff's accounting investigation division determined that the proposed rates were calculated accurately, and staff's engineering division found that all projects included ... to be acceptable," Walton said.

With no questions from commissioners, the chair moved to accept the tariff pages as filed. The motion passed on a roll-call style set of affirmations recorded in the administrative meeting. The commission also took routine action on four consent-agenda items listed at the start of the meeting, noting filings for telecom ownership transfers, a financing participation notice from Shenandoah Cable Television LLC, a request to cancel a telecommunications license, and corporate-structure notifications from energy companies; each consent item was "noted" and recorded as an aye vote by the commissioners present.

The acceptance of the Chesapeake tariff is a procedural rate-schedule approval establishing the SIR and CER levels staff recommended for implementation in the 12-month billing cycle. The commission's acceptance will allow Chesapeake Utilities to apply the revised SIR and Ocean City CER to customer bills for the period beginning Dec. 1, 2025. The meeting record shows the commission intends to publish an order reflecting the acceptance.