Jan. 5, 2001-- Turning up the thermostat will cost you more. Questar Gas has received the go-ahead to increase natural gas rates.
The Public Service Commission approved a 29% rate hike for Questar. That will raise the typical residential customer's bill about $17 a month.
Questar's costs are going up, so the company is passing on the increase to us.
The good news is, nearly half the natural gas the company sells in Utah comes from company-owned wells. But the rest is bought on the open market.
The bad news is, those natural gas prices in the Rocky Mountain region are now more than 300 percent higher than last year at this time.
The Public Service Commission tentatively approved the increase yesterday, retroactive to last Monday.
Steve Mecham, Chairman of the Utah Public Service Commission says, "It's not good news by any stretch. We don't like it. I don't think Questar likes it, for that matter. But it's what the market's doing and we've just got to take a look at it and make sure it's accurate and appropriate."
Governor Leavitt called a special energy forum Friday, asking key government leaders and those in the energy business to come up with a plan.
The two main questions they are trying to answer - Is our power supply adequate for the next ten years? And if not, what must we do about it?
Jeff Burks of the Utah Office of Energy & Resource Planning says the state needs to be prepared for more winters in the future like this one.
"Just based on the fact that we've had an unusually cold, early winter. It's not that natural gas prices are high right now for the consumer. It's that we've had extraordinary large usage of natural gas," Burks says.
The Public Service Commission will hold a scheduling conference next Friday and decide on dates for public hearings. Commissioners think people will attend, because this rate hike is significant.
