2. Background

On April 2, 2010, Southwest Gas Corporation (Southwest) filed Application (A.) 10-04-008 requesting authorization to: issue Debt Securities of up to
$200 million; refund, refinance, or replace previously issued securities; refinance previously authorized securities under the Evergreening Authority guidelines; enter into one or more interest rate risk management contracts; encumber utility property; guarantee obligations of regulated subsidiaries, regulated affiliates, and government entities; and be exempted from the Competitive Bidding Rule. On April 29, 2010, the assigned Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) issued Administrative Law Judge Ruling Requiring Applicant to File a Response to Request for Information Within 10 Days (Ruling). On May 7, 2010, Southwest filed its Response to Inquiries of the Administrative Law Judge (Response). On May 10, 2010, the assigned ALJ provided follow-up questions to Southwest via e-mail, to which it responded via e-mail on May 18 and 20, 2010.

Notice of the application appeared in the Commission's Daily Calendar of April 9, 2010 and no protests were filed. On April 22, 2010, Resolution
ALJ 176-3252 was issued, preliminarily categorizing this application as ratesetting, and that no hearings were needed.