Residential customers of Cascade Natural Gas will pay a bit more for the fuel starting Nov. 1.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) recently approved a 3.2% residential rate increase requested by Cascade Natural Gas, which serves customers in Baker City.

The monthly bill of a typical customer using an average of 65 therms per month will increase by $2.56, from $79.45 to $82.01, according to the PUC.

Rates for commercial customers are rising by 4.3%, and for industrial customers by 6.1%.

According to the PUC, the main reason for Cascade’s rate request is that forecasts for wholesale gas prices last year were below actual costs, which reduced the company’s expected revenue.

“We recognize that increasing rates at any time presents challenges for customers,” said Megan Decker, PUC Chair.

“In addition to under-collecting from customers last year, the increase is also impacted by regional capacity constraints that keep the utility exposed to fluctuations in the cost of wholesale gas and a lack of storage to smooth the price volatility those constraints generate. We encourage customers to contact their service provider to learn about options to help reduce the bill impact of this rate increase, including weatherization.”

This year’s increase is considerably smaller than in 2022, when the PUC approved a 25.1% increase for Cascade’s residential customers, 30.1% for commercial and 33.8% for industrial.

According to the PUC, last year’s increase was intended to cover the company’s rising cost to buy natural gas.