A gas ring on a domestic stove powered by natural gas. (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
Customers from Oregon’s largest gas utility will see smaller rate increases than they’ve grown accustomed to starting Friday, while customers from Oregon’s other gas utilities will see a decrease.
Starting Friday, NW Natural’s Oregon customers will see an increase of 4.7% — that will mean an average of $3.74 more a month on a typical gas bill. NW Natural provides service in a broad swath of western Oregon, including the Portland area, and also has customers in the Columbia River Gorge.
Meanwhile, Avista residential customers will see an 8.7% decrease or pay an average of $65 a month on their bills. Avista serves Southern and Eastern Oregon. Last year, residential customers paid about $70 a month. In 2020, Avista residential customers’ gas bills averaged about $56 a month.
Cascade Natural Gas customers could expect to see a decrease of 15.6%, or about an $11 decrease on their monthly bills, according to preliminary estimates. Those numbers have not yet been confirmed by the commission. In 2020, customers were paying about $48 a month on their gas bills. Cascade Natural Gas services customers in Central and Eastern Oregon.
The Oregon Public Utilities Commission (PUC), which regulates the state’s utilities, including electricity and natural gas, noted the decreases are due in part to the drop in price of natural gas or methane gas, combined with customer overcharges from last year and a mild winter that reduced the demand of natural gas.
“We are fortunate this year to see the stabilizing supply and demand of natural gas ease financial pressures on consumers,” PUC Chari Megan Decker said in a statement.
The slight decrease for some Oregonians might come as a relief as many are still reeling from high gas rate increases from recent years. For NW Natural customers, who are paying 50% more than they did in 2020, the increase could have been much higher.
The utility originally asked for an 18% increase to go into effect Friday. But last week, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission ordered NW Natural to remove nearly $14 million from customers’ rates. The commission said NW Natural was overspending and also needed to phase out subsidies that helped connect new customers to the utility by charging existing customers.
At the Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, a nonprofit consumer watchdog, outreach and communications director Charlotte Shuff said these decisions are a big deal and show that community input and advocacy made an impact on this year’s rates.
“As we’re seeing prices of everything go up, we’ve especially seen energy prices in Oregon go up over the last few years,” she said. “So this is a really big impact for a lot of people, and it’s just truly the testament to the will of the community coming together and making our voices heard.”
According to the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, NW Natural’s increase will go to pay to address growing demand and fund improvements to system communications and a pipe replacement.
The company will also expand its bill discount program to its customers, with deeper income-based discounts and a new debt forgiveness program that will help low-income customers who struggle with energy bill debt.
NW Natural spokesperson David Roy said the company is committed to providing reliable energy to their customers at an affordable price.
“Today, our average residential customer pays lower natural gas bills than they did 20 years ago,” he said. “We understand that rate increases can be challenging, which is why we have expanded our Oregon bill discount program for customers with qualifying incomes.”
This story was originally published by Oregon Public Broadcasting, an Oregon Capital Chronicle news partner.