FortisBC (TSX:FTS)has applied to the B.C. Utilities Commission to increase its electricity rates by 4%.
The company, which supplies electricity to 152,000 customers in south-central B.C., is seeking the higher rate to offset increasing energy rates and to bankroll its capital investment program.
Over the past three years, FortisBC has invested hundreds of millions of dollars into infrastructure improvements and plans to spend $142 million in 2007 and $124 million in 2008.
Based in Kelowna, FortisBC generates 235 megawatts of electricity from four hydroelectric dams and employs more than 570 people.
It's an indirectly wholly owned subsidiary of St. John's, Newfoundland-based Fortis Inc., which bought Terasen Gas from Kinder Morgan for $3.7 billion in May 2007.
Fortis' share price range during the past week: between $27.28 and $27.56; 52-week high: $30; 52-week low: $24.12.