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PSC PRESS RELEASE - Prices spurred by a nationwide natural gas shortage are fueling rate hikes in West Virginia, as
an administrative law judge of the state Public Service Commission (PSC) has approved recent increases for 13 of 18
companies serving most of the state.
Most recently, Consumers Gas Utility Company, the largest of the companies with 7,877 customers in six southwestern
counties, was allowed to increase rates by 47 percent. The company had requested a 74 percent increase.
An average
family using 13 McF (thousand cubic feet) will soon see their present bill of $90.13 per month increase to the new rate of
$131.43 a month as a result.
The increases are based on what companies must pay for gas, and reflect no profit for them, said PSC Utilities Division
Director David Ellis.
Last month, the agency granted a 26 percent increase to Mountaineer Gas Company, which will bring the average monthly
bill for the company's approximately 187,000 West Virginia customers to $133.62, up from $106.14.
The 24,000 ratepayers for West Virginia Power Gas, a division of Monongahela Power Company, will see a 25 percent
increase, bringing their old average monthly bill of $110.36 up to $137.95.
The rates for two other suppliers are under a rate moratorium: Dominion Hope Gas, with 106,000 customers, does not
expire until December 31, 2003, and Equitable Gas Company, with 11,800 customers, does not expire until January 31,
2004. Hope has requested an increase of nearly 24 percent, and Equitable nearly 32 percent. Both cases are pending.
"We started issuing consumer advisories in mid-summer about our concern regarding rising natural gas prices," Ellis said.
"Unfortunately, our predictions have come true. Consumers need to turn down the thermostat, check into options offered
by suppliers that can spread payments across many months, and weatherize their homes to combat the increases," he said.
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