By BRENDA TENBOER
Wyoming Gas Company customers across the Big Horn Basin are going to see a savings of about 25 percent off their monthly gas bill beginning Oct. 1.
The company, which serves 6,800 customers across the Big Horn Basin, is passing on a drop in wholesale gas prices to customers.
According to the Wyoming Public Service Commission, a wholesale natural gas cost decrease of $0.2475 per Ccf (100 cubic feet increments) has been filed. The average residential customer using 90 Ccf per month will see a decrease before taxes of $29.27 or 29.77 percent, said PSC secretary and chief counsel Chris Petrie.
“About one-third of this decrease, or 8 cents, is related to the commodity balancing account (CBA),” Petrie said.
Wyoming Gas Executive Director Janeen Capshaw said the decrease is attributable to a projected gas cost decrease of $.16980 per CCF and a decrease of $.07770 per Ccf in its CBA surcharge.
Capshaw said she has worked for Wyoming Gas for 25 years and fluctuations in prices are just part of the industry.
“The year before, the futures market was almost at $13 and in mid-July went from $13 to $7 for absolutely no reason,” she said. “We have no control over that, the only thing we have control over is when we buy gas.”
Wyoming Gas tries to purchase natural gas to meet needs for a 12-month period so that people can see some uniformity in gas bills, she said.
The decrease is expected to run through the end of December 2010, Petrie said. Wyoming Gas serves the towns of Byron, Burlington, Greybull, Basin, Manderson, Worland and Thermopolis.
“There is interest on those balancing accounts, the customers end up getting overpayment back with interest,” Petrie explained.
“In the end, they actually pay for the commodity on a dollar-for-dollar basis, the company doesn’t earn a profit on the interest.”
When asked if the decrease had any connection to a recent federal push toward renewable energy, Petrie said that there is an element of the unknown.
“Generally we’re just seeing some lower commodity prices because of the economic slowdown. Also, this year there is a lot of gas in storage and that is helping, too,” he said.
“We do see some switch to renewable energy sources,” he said. “While relatively economical, they are more expensive than some of the coal fired plants that have been around a while.”