Public Service Commission of WV Orders Natural Gas Utilities to Lower Purchased Gas Portion of Rates
By Connect-Bridgeport Staff on October 10, 2018 via Connect-Bridgeport.com
SUPPLIED BY THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION OF WEST VIRGINIA:
The Public Service Commission has ordered natural gas utilities to lower the purchased gas portion of their rates for over 95 percent of the natural gas customers in the state. The lower interim rates go into effect November 1, 2018. Final rates will be set in early 2019.
Mountaineer Gas Company customers will see a decrease in the purchased gas portion of their rates of 3.95 percent, Hope Gas/Dominion Energy customers will see a decrease of 5.66 percent, Peoples Gas customers will see a decrease of 6.33 percent and Lumberport-Shinnston Gas customers will see a decrease of 5.84 percent.
|
Company
|
Customers
|
2017 Rate/Mcf
|
Interim Rate/Mcf
|
Change from 2017
|
|
A.V Gas
|
67
|
$0.60
|
$0.913
|
52.17%
|
|
Blacksville Oil & Gas
|
292
|
$4.681
|
$4.778
|
2.07%
|
|
Bluefield Gas
|
3,311
|
$4.5609
|
$4.7578
|
4.32%
|
|
Canaan Valley Gas
|
589
|
$2.954
|
$3.192
|
8.06%
|
|
Consumers Gas
|
8,401
|
$4.692
|
$2.939
|
- 37.36%
|
|
Hope Gas/Dominion Energy
|
111,550
|
$3.957
|
$3.733
|
-5.66%
|
|
Lumberport-Shinnston
|
3,354
|
$5.481
|
$5.161
|
- 5.84%
|
|
Mountaineer Gas
|
215,912
|
$4.789
|
$4.60
|
-3.95
|
|
Peoples Gas
|
12,840
|
$3.32
|
$3.11
|
-6.33%
|
|
Southern Public Service
|
6,322
|
$3.947
|
$4.19
|
6.16%
|
|
Standard Gas
|
419
|
$3.992
|
$5.999
|
50.28%
|
|
Union Oil & Gas
|
6,265
|
$4.714
|
$4.935
|
4.79%
|
The Commission does not regulate the price of natural gas; that price is determined by competitive markets. The Commission does examine the gas purchasing practices of each gas utility and ensures the utility did everything possible to obtain a reliable gas supply at the lowest possible market price.
By law, gas utilities are permitted to recover their costs to purchase natural gas. The gas rates of customers are adjusted annually to account for the cost of gas in a process called a Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) proceeding before the Commission. The PGA is an estimate of expected prices utilities will have to pay for gas from their suppliers for the period of November 1 through October 31 of the following year, as well as a “true up” of actual costs for the previous year. The PGA does not include any profit for the utility.
