East Ohio cuts April gas rates

East Ohio's rate is below what nonregulated gas marketers are charging.
By DON SHILLING
VINDICATOR BUSINESS EDITOR
Dominion East Ohio's natural gas rates are coming down again, placing its charge for April delivery below what it was a year earlier.
The company said Thursday that it will drop its gas cost recovery rate by 12 percent to $9.72 per thousand cubic feet, effective April 6. That follows an 11 percent cut for March.
The April rate is 2 percent lower than the charge that was in effect in April 2005.
Rates rose dramatically later in 2005, however, reaching a high of $13.78. Rates have been falling in recent months because a warmer-than-normal winter has led to lower wholesale rates.
East Ohio's rate has dropped so much that it is below what nonregulated gas marketers are charging.
In past years, the utility encouraged its customers to switch to marketers to save money. Utilities are not permitted to make any profit from the selling of gas, just the distribution. The gas cost recovery rate accounts for most of the cost in a customer's bill.
Marketers have been slower to lower prices, however, according to information provided by the Public Utilities of Ohio.
Here's the range
Marketers' rates range as low as $9.90 for a variable-rate plan to a high of $13.49 for a fixed-rate plan. Transportation charges and taxes are added on to the rates.
Shana Eiselstein, a PUCO spokesman, noted that the East Ohio rate won't be effective until April 6, so marketers may drop their prices by then. The PUCO tabulates marketers' offers each week on its Web site.
Vicki Friscic, manager of regulatory and pricing for East Ohio, the marketers' rates could drop if wholesale prices continue to fall but she couldn't speak for their rate-setting policies.
Attempts to reach two marketing companies that serve the area were unsuccessful.
Friscic said East Ohio is cautioning customers that it doesn't know what rates will do in the future. In fact, prices for deliveries beyond April are higher than short-term prices, she said.
shilling@vindy.com