Newspaper study: Changes will save natural gas customers
COLUMBUS (AP) — A newspaper’s analysis concludes a new system for supplying natural gas to Ohio would have saved the typical Columbia Gas household $450 over the last four years.
Critics of the state’s largest gas utility say The Columbus Dispatch findings support their view that Columbia and its customers have been paying too much.
Columbia spokesman Ken Stammen, however, disputes the report, saying there’s no way to know for sure what past rates would have been under the new system.
The prices for consumers previously had been based on estimates of Columbia’s costs. Under the changes taking effect in April, an auction and the commodities market will determine prices.
The Dispatch based its four-year savings figure on the market’s gas prices over the time span.