Utah heating bills to rise

Get ready to pay a lot more to heat your home this winter.

Salt Lake-based Questar Gas Co. on Tuesday asked Utah regulators for a 20.3 percent hike in what it charges its customers for natural gas.

Questar said the latest request will raise the typical residential customer's monthly bill by roughly $18.

However, when combined with a 14.4 percent rate hike that went into effect June 1 and a 6.9 percent hike in October 2004, the typical Utah household's bill will rise nearly $32 per month.

The increases, expected to be approved by the Utah Public Service Commission, will take effect Nov. 1.

Sen. Ed Mayne, D-West Valley, called the increases a "detriment to Utah's working families," adding that energy companies continue to earn record profits.

"I don't know that we are going to see the end of it," Mayne said. "This is going to be a very pricey winter for all Utahns, and particularly for working families and low-income families. How much more can the average person take on the chin?"

A prepared statement from Questar Gas said the latest price hike could have been worse, amounting to as much as a 60 percent increase had the utility not owned its own natural gas reserves.

Questar's company-owned gas is delivered to its customers at "cost-of-service," meaning the cost of producing the gas, instead of market prices.

In September, Questar had asked Utah regulators for a 13.4 percent rate increase to take effect Oct. 1. But the company later asked for a delay to Nov. 1 because of "the significantly increased natural gas market volatility arising from hurricanes Katrina and Rita."

Chad Jones, a spokesman for Questar, said Tuesday that the federal government deserves much of the blame for rising prices for promoting policies that encourage the use of natural gas while neglecting policies that encourage increasing production.

"There's only one way to bring prices down, and that's to drill more wells," Jones said. "We need to increase supply. Federal and state agencies have a role to play in this. It's amazing that the price signals being sent haven't resulted in more action, meaning we still have some outdated laws and policies that stifle natural gas production."

Jones said roughly 5.6 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day remain shut-in at Gulf of Mexico production sites. About 350 billion cubic feet of gas, he said, were not delivered to market because of Hurricane Katrina.

Questar asks for Public Service Commission approval twice yearly to adjust natural gas rates to reflect changing supply costs, which are passed to customers with no profit to the utility.

Since 1988, Questar has requested 22 decreases in natural gas rates and 15 increases. In that 17-year period, the average annual bill has climbed from $542 to $1,287, a 137 percent increase.

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E-mail: danderton@desnews.com