Utility costs in Anchorage will be mostly up in 2012, for wastewater and sewer, waste handling and electricity services. Enstar Natural Gas Co. is bucking the trend, however. Natural gas prices for 2012 will be down, the company said. Anchorage’s city-owned Municipal Light & Power is asking for a 6.75 percent rate increase to help fund a $457 million capital improvements program, $274 million of which is in new generation facilities; Chugach Electric says its rates will rise 3 percent to 5 percent as the utility shoulders its share of a new power plant in Anchorage, a joint-venture with ML&P. Anchorage Waste and Wastewater Utility is asking for 6 percent increases in water rates and an 11 percent in sewer rates as AWWU continues with capital improvements. Alaska Waste, a private solid waste service, is requesting a 3 percent to 5 percent increase and may impose an additional fuel surcharge.

Enstar Natural Gas Co. has yet to set its final 2012 rates. Enstar will file its fist quarter 2012 adjusted gas cost with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska, and it will be 37 cents a thousand cubic feet (mcf) below prices for first quarter 2011. Enstar’s lower gas cost is partly due to the link of one of its main supply contracts with the Henry Hub gas trading index in Louisiana, which is very low right now, and partly with new producers on the scene, and more competition.