Residential customers of Cascade Natural Gas will pay 25% more for the fuel starting Nov. 1.

The Oregon Public Utility Commission (PUC) recently approved a 25.1% residential rate increase requested by Cascade Natural Gas, which serves customers in Baker City.

Rates will rise even more for commercial customers (30.1%) and industrial customers (33.8%).

The reason, according to PUC, is rising wholesale prices for natural gas.

“We recognize that increasing rates at a time when Oregonians are already dealing with high inflation presents challenges for many customers,” said Megan Decker, PUC chair. “Unfortunately, global events drive the price for utilities to purchase natural gas. There’s simply no way to avoid these higher prices impacting customers. However, there may be options available to residential customers to help reduce the bottom line impact.”

The rate hikes will boost Cascade Natural Gas revenues by about $22.2 million, according to PUC.

However, that increase is intended to cover the company’s higher cost for buying natural gas, what PUC calls a “Purchased Gas Adjustment” or PGA.

“Each local natural gas company purchases gas for delivery to its core customers,” according to a PUC fact sheet. “The cost of this gas is a ‘cost of doing business’ for the gas company and is not intended to allow the company to make any profit from the purchases. The costs for gas purchases are recovered annually through a Purchased Gas Adjustment.”

Mark Hanson, a spokesman for Cascade Natural Gas, said the company’s request for this year’s PGA, which has a much higher increase than usual, reflects a variety of factors that have boosted the price the company pays for natural gas.

Since the pandemic has eased, demand for natural gas has risen faster than the supply, which is still increasing, Hanson said.

This summer the demand for natural gas to produce electricity reached a record high, Hanson said, due in part to the closure of many coal-fired power plants whose production has largely been replaced by plants powered by natural gas.

Natural gas demand in Europe has also risen since that area is getting less from Russia since its invasion of Ukraine this winter.

“This has become a global impact on the market,” he said.

A PUC report from Oct. 14, summarizing Cascade’s PGA request, also cites as contributing factors a June 8, 2022, fire at the country’s second-largest liquefied natural gas export facility near Galveston, Texas.

Projections for next spring are more positive, Hanson said, with supply potentially topping demand, which should reduce wholesale prices.

In the meantime, though, Hanson acknowledged that a 25% increase in residential rates, with wintry temperatures arriving earlier than last year, is unfortunate.

“It’s not a great time with inflation hitting everything,” he said.

PUC estimates that a typical residential customer using an average of 62 therms per month will see their monthly bill rise by about $15.09, to $74.90.

The PUC approves adjustments annually to the rates of the state’s three regulated natural gas companies — Cascade Natural Gas, Avista Utilities, and NW Natural, to reflect changes in the actual cost of wholesale priced natural gas, known as the purchased gas adjustment (PGA).

This allows companies to pass through their actual cost of purchasing gas to customers without a markup on the price.

The PUC has also approved rate increases for Oregon’s two other natural gas companies.

Avista, which has a service area including La Grande, is raising residential rates by 18.4% starting Nov. 1. NW Natural is increasing residential rates by 14.4%.

To increase energy efficiency and save on future bills, customers are encouraged to view Energy Trust of Oregon’s low-cost and no-cost tips to reduce energy consumption.

For information about bill payment assistance options, newly available utility discount programs, and the Budget Pay Program that equalizes bill payments across winter and summer months, contact Cascade Natural at 888-522-1130 or view information online at www.cngc.com/customer-service/low-income-

assistance-programs/.