Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania Rate Agreement Provides $1 Million for Customer Assistance Programs
October 17, 2011
CANONSBURG, PA– A rate adjustment for Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Inc., will provide $1 million annually for income eligible customers that may need assistance with their natural gas bills. Additionally, adjusted rates will provide resources to enable Columbia Gas to continue providing safe and reliable natural gas distribution service to its 414,000 customers and to maintain the type of infrastructure investment that has generated more than 800 jobs.
Under the terms of a settlement that Columbia Gas reached with regulatory stakeholders –as approved by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) – the average residential customer will see a monthly total bill of $78.09, an increase of $2.45 or 3.2 percent.
The Commission’s ruling allows for 20 Ccf monthly for residential customers before a volumetric distribution charge is applied. The average residential customer uses 72 Ccf of natural gas per month. The new base rates will be effective for service rendered beginning Oct. 18, 2011.
Commercial customers using 435 Ccf per month will now pay a total bill of $360.41 per month, an increase of $9.52, or 2.7 percent. Industrial customers using 5,000 Ccf per month will now pay a total bill of $3,651.17 per month, a decrease of $19.33, or 0.53 percent. The new rates provide Columbia Gas with the opportunity to earn an additional $17 million in annual revenues.
“This approval by the PUC marks another chapter in Columbia’s continuing effort to modernize its distribution system by replacing cast iron and bare steel pipe with state-of-the-art plastic pipe which will provide safe, reliable and efficient natural gas service for generations to come,” said Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania President Carol Fox. “In these tough economic times, this is also an opportunity to provide additional assistance to those households that need it the most. Additionally, it allows the company to continue to maintain, operate and invest in its 7,600 mile natural gas distribution system. These investments mean jobs for Pennsylvania.”
Columbia’s investment of more than $190 million in modernizing its natural gas delivery system between 2007 and 2011 has resulted in the creation of more than 800 jobs, both with Columbia, and with contractors hired by Columbia for its infrastructure projects. Columbia hopes to continue its high levels of investments into the future.
“In addition, we sought and received the Commission’s approval to accelerate a $37M tax refund to our customers, which will now be passed back in less than three years rather than ten years, as originally approved by the PUC,” added Fox.
Another advantage for customers has been the low cost for natural gas, particularly driven by the impact of recent discoveries of shale natural gas deposits.
“Columbia’s natural gas supply prices for the fourth quarter of 2011 are 29 percent lower than they were in the fourth quarter of 2010,” said Fox.
Despite low natural gas costs, many households continue to struggle to make ends meet. Under the terms of the settlement, Columbia is expanding its assistance programs to benefit more customers. Columbia will be investing an additional $1 million annually into the WarmChoice program, which helps reduce energy bills for income eligible customers by providing home insulation and high efficiency furnaces, safely and efficiently.
The approved settlement also provides for an improvement in the way Columbia issues bills to its customers. Customer bills will no longer be based on how many cubic feet of natural gas are used, but on how much energy a customer uses. Before June 2012, Columbia’s customers will begin to see bills issued in therms instead of Ccf. The change is not a rate adjustment and maintains fair and equitable bills for all customers. This change also accounts for the fact that the energy content of gas varies from place to place in a large distribution system like Columbia’s. A therm is the unit of measure most often used on gas appliances for energy efficiency comparison purposes.
“We are committed to providing high levels of customer service and relevant and useful programs that our customers want,” Fox said. “The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s most recent annual utility Customer Service Performance Report, which was released at the end of September, ranked Columbia one of the highest in customer satisfaction among Pennsylvania gas utilities, and that is truly an honor. I believe that the initiatives and programs we worked hard to craft, and approved today, will continue to benefit our customers and demonstrate our commitment to being the state’s premier natural gas distribution company.”
Contact: Rachel Ford
724-416-6356
RFord@NiSource.com
About Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania