Most lenders won't approve a rate lock until the borrower has a property under contract or a signed offer.
If the bank's nine-member policy board approved a rate increase, the benchmark overnight loan rate would probably rise from near zero to 0.25percentt, analysts said.
The Public Utility Commission has approved a rate increase of 3 cents a kilowatt hour, on top of a previous temporary 1-cent increase that was made permanent.
Two weeks ago, his own loyalists on the powerful California Public Utilities Commission approved a rate increase (though it tried to target businesses rather than consumers).
The Water Board, a seven-member body that sets rates, has tentatively approved a rate hike as high as 18percentt, an enormous jump, especially considering that water bills just went up 11.5percentt last July.
Although the Fed decided not to raise interest rates at its meeting earlier this month - citing concern over China – speculation is building that the central bank could approve a rate hike as early as next month.
Like roughly half the utilities in the United States, Duke is regulated; it can charge more for power only if it builds a new power plant and persuades the regulator to approve a rate increase to pay for it.
The companies claim that the regulators unfairly approved a rate increase that forces them to pay an average of 5percentt more to Nippon Telegraph and Telephone, the country's dominant carrier, for using part of its domestic network.
"Even though I'm pleased that the department was able to approve a rate which is 47percentt less than the proposed rate, I recognize that this increase places an additional burden on thousands of families," Delaware Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro said in a statement.
Members of the Fed's policy-making Open Market Committee are seen as likely to approve a rate increase when they meet Feb. 1 and 2. For the most part, fourth-quarter earnings reports are living up to forecasts, and in many cases are exceeding expectations.
