Columbia Gas customers must pay more starting this month

Jim Hook
Chambersburg Public Opinion

HARRISBURG – The base rate for Columbia Gas customers will go up 4.5 percent this winter.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission last Friday unanimously approved the increase effective Dec. 16.

The typical monthly bill for a residential customer using 70 therms of gas per month will increase by $4.11, from $91.63 to $95.74.

A customer's monthly gas bill is comprised of two main parts -- the cost to maintain the infrastructure and the cost of natural gas. Infrastructure costs comprise about two-thirds of the bill.

A gas main sticks out of the ground as Columbia Gas workers and subcontractors work on the distribution pipeline.

Columbia Gas had asked on March 16 for a rate hike to increase the typical customer’s base rate by $8.25 a month, from $91.63 to $99.88. The utility wanted to raise $47 million to continue upgrading and replacing old pipelines. Columbia Gas in the past 10 years spent $1.6 billion on its distribution system in Pennsylvania, including $1.2 billion to replace more than 922 miles of pipe.

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The rate settlement includes nearly $24 million to be refunded to customers within 18 months. The monthly credit or “negative surcharge” to customers is the result of a decrease in federal corporate tax rates and other tax changes under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 affecting utilities’ tax liability.

Columbia Gas rates remain much lower that rates in 2006, after adjusting for inflation.

The PUC in 2014 approved a 6-percent hike in Columbia Gas residential distribution service rates. The utility had asked 10 percent.

A backhoe from Columbia Gas drives towards the scene of a major gas leak on Aug. 25, 2016 in Hamilton Township, Adams County.

Columbia Gas provides natural gas service to about 426,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in parts of 26 Pennsylvania counties – including Franklin County. Columbia Gas maintains the distribution pipelines. Customers also buy natural gas from Columbia Gas or other suppliers.

Customers of the Borough of Chambersburg gas department are not affected by the rate hike. The municipality contracts for natural gas and sets its own customer rates.

Jim Hook, 717-262-4759