CENTERPOINT ENERGY'S MINNESOTA PILOT 'INVERTED' TIERED PRICING SCHEME IS TAGGED BY STATE'S ATTORNEY GENERAL AFTER LESS THAN ONE YEAR FOR CAUSING UNFAIR CONSEQUENCES FOR RATEPAYERS

摘要

Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson recently asked the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to suspend Texas-based CenterPoint Energy's "pilot inverted block-rate pricing program" pending further study. With this mechanism the company charges residential natural gas customers progressively higher per-unit-of-energy rates as their gas usage increases. CenterPoint, with 718,000 residential customers, is the largest natural gas supplier in Minnesota.