National Fuel to lower bills?

SHARON, Pa. -- Western Pennsylvania customers of National Fuel Gas will see their gas bills drop by 3.8 percent in August if projections hold.
National Fuel has filed its annual Purchased Gas Cost estimate with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission, projecting a decrease in its overall gas cost expense of about $10.7 million.
If approved, the bill for a typical residential customer using 115,000 cubic feet of gas each year should see their monthly bill drop by about $3.40 to $84.76 beginning Aug. 1.
The decrease reflects anticipated gas costs for the period of Aug. 1, 2003, through July 31, 2004, said Nancy Taylor, senior manager of corporate communications for National Fuel.
She cautioned, however, that this is only a forecast that could be revised before August.
Utility customers are allowed to pass the cost of buying gas directly to the consumer without taking any profit on the exchange, and a change in gas costs could affect the proposed decrease.
National Fuel has 209,000 customers in 14 northwestern Pennsylvania counties with about 30,000 of them in Mercer County but none in Lawrence County.