MORGANTOWN — Hope Gas customers will see their gas bills go down starting Nov. 1.
The state public service commission issued an interim recommended decision approving a rate cut recommended by PSC staff.
The case, filed Aug. 1, is Hope’s 2023 Purchased Gas Application, which gas companies are required to file annually to account for the cost of the natural gas they buy and distribute.
Based on the decision, Hope Gas told The Dominion Post on Tuesday that residential customers would see a decrease of $19.85 per month, 17.14%.
Customers won’t see that full decrease, however. It will be partially offset by a rate hike approved Sept. 9, for Hope’s Pipeline Replacement and Expansion (PREP) program. That hike would add $6.45 per month, 5.84%, to a residential bill.
So the actual decrease would be $13.40 per month, about 11.57%.
When Hope filed the case in August, it proposed a slightly smaller decrease: $19.60 per month, 16.93%. After reviewing Hope’s filings, PSC staff recommended a lower rate, leading to a larger decrease.
Hope currently charges $7.793 per thousand cubic (mcf) of gas, and proposed dropping the rate to $4.729 per mcf. Staff proposed $4.69 per mcf and the PSC agreed to that.
All other classes of Hope Gas customers, such as Large Commercial & Industrial, will also see rate cuts.
The interim decision adopting the staff-recommended rates gives interested parties 15 days from the filing of the decision — which was Oct. 6 — to file exceptions. If none are filed, the decision becomes a PSC order after five more days, with no further action needed, and the new rates will take effect Nov. 1.
As previously reported, customers of Mountaineer Gas, which serves 49 of 55 counties, will also see their bills drop. The PSC Utility Division recommended a proposed purchased gas rate that would lower an average residential customer bill by $34.11 per month, 18.25%, to also take effect Nov. 1.
The PSC celebrated both rate cuts in a Tuesday press release. It notes that the price utilities pay their suppliers is not regulated by the PSC or the federal government; it is determined by the market. The PSC reviews the amounts requested and often adjusts the amount it will permit the companies to charge their customers.
While the purchased gas component typically makes up less than half of the total amount of a residential gas bill, the PSC said, last year the market was particularly volatile, which resulted in a significant increase in the purchased gas component of residential bills.
This year, PSC said, the market has begun to settle and the prices requested have decreased. Hope and Mountaineer serve almost 89% of gas customers in the state, PSC said. Of the 12 gas utilities in the state, only Peoples Gas and Standard Gas requested increases.
“It is gratifying to see the wholesale prices coming down this year,” PSC chair Charlotte Lane said. “I know this will make a big difference to West Virginia families this winter, and that means a lot.”
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