Utility to drop price of gas

Natural gas costs for March will fall 11 percent.
YOUNGSTOWN -- Gas rates for Dominion East Ohio customers are coming down.
The utility said Wednesday that its customers will pay 11 percent less for gas bought starting March 8.
Its gas cost recovery rate will be reduced from $12.50 per thousand cubic feet of gas to $11.07. This rate, which is adjusted monthly, makes up most of a customer's bill, though transportation is covered by a separate fee.
Although the gas cost recovery rate is lower, it remains 22 percent higher than it was in March 2004.
The average residential customer's bill for next month would be $217 under the new rate.
Other sources
The rate is charged only to customers who buy their gas from the utility. Nearly 60 percent of the utility's customers, however, buy their gas from marketers, though the gas still is delivered by East Ohio.
Marketers' rates vary from $10.95 to $14.35 per thousand cubic feet, depending on terms, according to a chart on the Web site of the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
East Ohio said it reduced its rate because of decreases in wholesale costs that resulted from warmer-than-normal weather this winter. Prices remain higher than a year ago, however, because supply is still tight, the company said.