West Virginia PSC case review leads to lower gas bill expectations

As a result of a review of purchased gas adjustment cases recently filed, the West Virginia Public Service Commission announced that gas utility bills are likely to be slightly down in the next heating season.

While the PSC has no power to regulate these prices, they can examine purchasing practices of gas utilities and the current competitive market. Gas utilities must meet certain standards, but, by law, they can recover the costs of purchasing natural gas.

The current predictions stem from a vast majority of natural gas utilities requesting lowered rates for their purchased gas. More than 91 percent of the state’s natural gas customers could benefit, based on currently filed requests from natural gas utilities. Of these, Mountaineer Gas Company is notably seeking a 3.91 percent reduction and Hope Gas/Dominion Energy an 8.87 percent decrease. Only five companies have requested increases, and these are due to under-recovery of gas costs over 2018 and projections of higher gas prices charged by their suppliers.

Gas rates in the state are adjusted annually. Under a process known as Purchased Gas Adjustment, the Committee sets an estimate of expected prices utilities will have to pay for gas from their suppliers over the next year — Nov. 1 through Oct. 31. At the same time, they also identify the actual costs of the previous year.