An average residential heating customer will now pay about $109 per month
Power and natural gas utility PECO has announced that it will lower its natural gas rate by 10% on average for its 485,000 suburban gas customers, effective March 1, 2009.
An average residential heating customer who uses 80 hundreds of cubic feet (ccf) of natural gas a month will now pay about $109 per month. The gas rate for average usage will drop from $1.51 per ccf currently to $1.36 per ccf.
In March 2008, the average PECO customer has paid $1.47 per ccf. Actual usage depends on a customer’s billing cycle, number of gas appliances, weather, and the size and energy efficiency of the home.
The company can adjust its gas commodity rate quarterly based on changes in the wholesale market. PECO’s natural gas bill is primarily made up of two parts: the delivery charge, which is the cost of moving natural gas to customers and makes up about a third of the average residential bill; and the purchased gas cost (pgc) represents about two-thirds of an average residential bill and reflects PECO’s costs to buy gas on the wholesale market.
Carlos Thillet, manager of gas supply and transportation at PECO, said: Natural gas is a great value as overall supply is strong and demand has dropped in recent months across the nation. This should be welcome news for our customers while colder weather remains with us. Even with this decrease, any customer who needs help with managing their utility costs should contact us, so we can help.