UGI Natural Gas Bills to Rise 11 Percent
Sep. 1–Natural gas prices in the Lehigh Valley go up today.
UGI Utilities announced the increase Wednesday. The bill for a typical residential heating customer will rise 11 percent, from $118.29 to $131.61 per month, according to the company, which is the Lehigh Valley’s No. 1 natural gas provider.
The company blamed the hike on forces — high world oil prices, a growing economy and a hotter-than-normal summer across the nation — that pre-dated Hurricane Katrina.
“While the recent production disruption in the Gulf of Mexico from Hurricane Katrina has caused all energy prices to spike in the past few days, UGI’s rate increase is driven primarily by the rise in wholesale prices that occurred before Katrina,” said Vicki O. Ebner, UGI marketing vice president.
UGI serves about 92,000 natural gas customers in the Lehigh Valley and upper Bucks County.
It and other utilities buy natural gas on behalf of customers and pass the cost of the gas to them without markup. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission reviews each utility’s gas cost rates and gas purchasing practices annually.
Utilities earn their income through a distribution charge for the delivery of gas to customers and a customer charge for maintaining their pipeline system and providing customer service. UGI has not increased these rates since 1995.
UGI works to stabilize prices by buying some natural gas during warm weather months and storing it underground, and by using financial tools to lessen the effect of sharp swings in wholesale gas prices, Ebner said.
Today’s hike is not the largest in recent memory. In November 2003, UGI raised prices 19 percent.
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