Trumbull officials lock in gas rate

By Ed Runyan

Most residents in six townships automatically will be enrolled in the program.

WARREN — Trumbull County commissioners have locked in natural gas at a rate of $8.24 per thousand cubic feet for county residents and small businesses in the Dominion East Ohio Gas service territory who are not in a village or city.

The move means certain customers will be able to switch to a lower natural-gas rate as a result of the natural-gas aggregation issue passed by some county voters in November, said Frank Fuda, Trumbull County commissioner.

The commissioners monitored natural-gas rates for about eight months.

“It was the best price we found,” Fuda said of the agreement reached with Direct Energy. “We waited a while to get the best price.”

There are areas that don’t qualify for the lower rate, such as those customers in a city or village or most residents of the two northern rows of townships, said Tom Bellish, president of Buckeye Energy Brokers of Twinsburg, which arranged the aggregation.

The rate will be available starting in March, and the rate is good for 12 months, county commissioners said.

The rate excludes taxes and fees, according to a press release from Direct Energy, which will supply the gas. Billing will still be done by Dominion.

The rate is 10 cents per thousand cubic feet less for senior citizens 65 and older who are the primary owners of their residence.

The program has two parts: natural-gas customers who will automatically get the new rate and those who will have the option of switching to it, Bellish said.

In either case, customers have a choice of keeping what they have or changing to the aggregation rate, Fuda said.

Most residents in six Trumbull County townships — Hubbard, Vienna, Warren, Fowler, Southington and Brookfield — will be placed in the program automatically and allowed to “opt out” by notifying Direct Energy, Bellish said.

Direct Energy will mail information in February on opting out, the company said.

The service area lines do not exactly follow the township lines, so some homes and businesses in the townships may be part of the automatic aggregation and some may not be, said Neil Durbin, a Dominion spokesman.

The price of natural gas has dropped since a summertime high of about $14, at the same time that gasoline prices dropped, Fuda said.

There are six townships — Champion, Liberty, Bazetta, Howland, Newton and Weathersfield — that have their own aggregation rate, Bellish said. Customers in those townships will be able to “opt in” by calling Direct Energy at (866) 803-4618 from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.

One thing for those wishing to “opt in” to consider is that there might be a termination fee charged by the company whose program they are in now, Bellish said. There will be no such termination fee for those who leave the county aggregation plan, he added.

There are 12 townships not served extensively by Dominion East Ohio Gas. In those townships, most residents and small businesses are not eligible for county aggregation, Direct Energy said. They are Mesopotamia, Bloomfield, Green, Gustavus, Kinsman, Vernon, Johnston, Mecca, Bristol, Farmington, Hartford and Braceville.

Rebecca Whitman, a Hartford Township trustee, said she has received numerous complaints from Hartford residents wanting to know why the aggregation issue was on their ballot but the option is not available to them.

She said one reason is that natural-gas companies charge more to deliver gas to rural areas than urban or suburban areas.

“It’s one of the costs of living in the country,” she said.

The price for natural gas in some parts of Hartford Township is about $15 per thousand cubic feet, she said.

runyan@vindy.com