UGI Gas Bills to Go Up 6.9 Percent
Posted on: Saturday, 17 May 2008, 09:00 CDT
By Jerry Lynott, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
May 17--As utilities pay more for natural gas, so will customers, and UGI Penn Natural Gas users are looking at an increase next month.
The utility Friday said its June 1 purchased gas cost rate will be 9.5 percent higher than the wholesale price it paid in March.
UGI PNG, the region's largest natural gas supplier, will file a rate of $1.168 per hundred cubic feet with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission. In March, its filed rate was $1.066 per hundred cubic feet -- a standard measure in the industry.
But the rate is expected to hold steady for the utility's annual Dec. 1 filing, said UGI PNG spokesman Joe Swope.
By law, UGI PNG is required to file its annual purchased gas rate with the June 1 filing, he explained.
"It's essentially your best estimation going forward," Swope said.
The price can be adjusted prior to Dec. 1 and afterwards in reaction to the market. The utility passes on the cost to customers without a markup.
The PUC routinely approves the adjustments and the higher June rate will translate into a monthly increase of 6.9 percent for the average residential customer, the utility said.
Under the higher rate, the bill for a typical residential heating customer who uses 100 cubic feet of natural gas a month will increase to $157.95 from $147.74. Barring any adjustments it will be the same on Dec. 1.
Commercial and industrial customers also will pay more due to the increase.
In a prepared statement, Vicki O. Ebner, vice president of marketing and gas supply for the utility, said UGI PNG is dealing with the rise in energy commodity prices. "UGI purchases natural gas supplies from wholesale suppliers at market-based prices, which continue to be impacted by weather as well as global events that influence oil and other energy prices."
Since June 2007, UGI PNG has increased the purchased gas rate 12.5 percent. Last year it filed a rate of $1.037 per hundred cubic feet with the PUC. It lowered the rate to $1.024 on Dec. 1, 2007, but increased it in March.
Wilkes-Barre-based UGI PNG, a subsidiary of UGI Utilities Inc., serves approximately 158,000 customers in a 13-county market, including former customers of PG Energy.
-----
To see more of The Times Leader, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesleader.com.
Copyright (c) 2008, The Times Leader, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.
For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.
NYSE:UGI,
Source: The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, Pa.)
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds