Questar customers' bills to drop $113 yearly

Questar Gas Co. customers in Utah will see their natural-gas bills decrease by about $161.4 million this year, a 14 percent drop, following orders issued by the Utah Public Service Commission.

The panel on Thursday approved four orders that together will lower the annual household natural-gas bill by about $113, according to commission spokeswoman Julie Orchard.

Orchard said the reduction in customer rates results from a decrease in the forecasted price of natural gas. This is the second rate decrease in less than a year, she said.

In November 2008, the commission approved a rate cut of $63 million, or 5.3 percent.

Earlier this month, Questar had asked the commission to reduce natural-gas rates by $157 million — the largest decrease in Questar's history, according to the company's chief executive officer Ron Jibson.

At the time, Jibson said that the rate cut, if approved, would lower the typical homeowner's annual bill by about $124, or 16 percent, beginning March 1.

Orchard said Friday that after reviewing several pending natural-gas rate cases, decided to combine four Questar cases. The commission's decision included the approval of Questar's proposed rate reduction. And the commission authorized for Questar Gas to recover costs associated with conservation and energy efficiency programs.

The ruling also permits Questar to use less expensive company-owned natural gas, known as WEXPRO gas, for compressed natural-gas vehicles and reduces the increase in charges for compressed natural-gas service.

Orchard said that drivers of natural-gas vehicles would see the price of compressed natural gas increase about 10 percent, from 80 cents per gallon up to about 88 cents. But the new ruling reverses a December order that would have hiked the price of compressed natural gas to $1.43.

The commission had issued an order that called for an increase in the price of a gallon equivalent of compressed natural gas for vehicles in two phases. The first phase would increase the price of compressed natural gas to $1.14 per gallon, up from 80 cents. The second increase would have come on July 1 and would have pushed the price up to $1.43 per gallon.

Critics called the increase unfair and said it would hurt natural-gas vehicles owners and deter drivers from purchasing the vehicles. Orchard said those critics made a persuasive argument, prompting the change.

"We feel like we need to encourage alternative fuel use, a cleaner environment and other forms of transportation," she said.

E-MAIL: jlee@desnews.com