NCUC approves Piedmont Natural Gas rate reduction requests

The North Carolina Utilities Commission (NCUC) has approved Piedmont Natural Gas rate change requests for integrity management rider (IMR) and benchmark commodity cost of natural gas components of its billing rate, which is expected to lower monthly residential rates by $1.

Piedmont, which serves more than 1 million residential, commercial, and industrial customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee, applied for the rate changes earlier in May. By law, the company is not allowed markup the cost of natural gas it purchases for its customers, which requires periodic rate adjustments.

The IMR rate adjustment approved by the NCUC on Tuesday will reduce residential costs by 33 cents per dekatherm for residential customers and by 25 cents per dekatherm for small and medium general service customers. Meanwhile, the benchmark commodity cost of natural gas is increasing from $2.50 to $2.75 per dekatherm.

“These rate component changes together result in a residential customer billing rate decrease of 19 cents per dekatherm and will take effect June 1, 2018,” according to a company release. “This will be Piedmont’s fourth rate decrease for North Carolina customers in 2018. With this latest rate decrease included, the average residential customer’s monthly bill has decreased by approximately $6.”