National Fuel bills to decrease slightly

Staff report

National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. is projecting that overall gas-supply charges between Aug. 1, 2014, and July 31, 2015, will be about the same as current prices, according to a statement released Thursday.

The company submitted its required annual purchased-gas cost projection to the Pennsylvania Utility Commission. If approved as filed, the new monthly bill for the average residential customer using 90,000 cubic feet of natural gas annually would decrease by 0.07 percent, from $75.60 to $75.54 per month.

“The primary reason for this proposed decrease in gas-supply charges is that costs associated with the purchase and transmission of natural gas to be effective beginning in August 2014 are projected to be lower than those reflected in current rates,” Sandra James, director of corporate communications for National Fuel, said in the press release.

For National Fuel’s Pennsylvania customers, gas-supply charges are set by annual filings and can be adjusted on a quarterly basis to account for changes in the price of natural gas.

State law requires utilities to pass along gas-supply charges, accounting for about 50 percent of a residential customer’s annual bill, to customers with no mark-up or discount. That amount is different from delivery-service charges, which reflect the company’s other costs of business.

National Fuel serves approximately 209,000 customers in 14 northwestern Pennsylvania counties, including Mercer and Venango.