Natural gas rates to fall

YOUNGSTOWN -- Finally, some good news about natural gas rates.
On Wednesday, state regulators granted Dominion East Ohio Gas and Columbia Gas permission to reduce recent rate increases.
The rate changes follow a rapid decrease in the price of natural gas futures in the past week. The prices of natural gas futures have fallen more than 20 percent as weather forecasters have predicted warmer weather.
Natural gas futures reversed the slide Wednesday, however, and rose 57.8 cents to $11.60 per 1,000 cubic feet. Natural gas briefly topped $15 in mid-December.
Neil Durbin, a spokesman for Dominion, said the utility will lower its rate request, which was filed last Thursday. The amount of the new rate is to be announced today, he said.
Last week's request would have raised the cost of 1,000 cubic feet of gas to $14.88 from $13.02. The new rate was to be in effect from Jan. 6 to Feb. 6.
Columbia had filed to raise its rate to $15.68 for a similar period.
The charge is known as the gas cost recovery and is designed to pass along the cost of buying gas without making a profit. Consumers can choose to buy gas instead from a marketer, but the gas still is delivered by the utility.
The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio granted Dominion and Columbia waivers of rules that would have prohibited them from making changes to their rate requests.