Ameren cuts Cape gas rates

Cape Girardeau customers will get a break on their winter heating bills while Jackson residents will pay more.

Every year at the end of October, the Missouri Public Service Commission reviews and, generally with few modifications, approves utility company estimates of the cost of natural gas for the winter. The result, known as the purchased gas adjustment, is used to set rates for up to six months.

For the upcoming months, AmerenUE will have lower rates for about 21,000 natural gas customers in Southeast Missouri. Along with the cuts, Ameren has changed the way it calculates the adjustment and most customers in Southeast Missouri will see a credit on their next bill that will average $69 for residential customers.

For 19,200 natural gas customers of AmerenUE in the Texas Eastern Transmission Co. pipeline service area, which includes Cape Girardeau and parts of Stoddard and Scott counties, the winter gas rate will be 90 cents per 100 cubic feet, down from the current rate of $1.

The 32,780 gas customers of Atmos Energy in the counties of Cape Girardeau, Scott, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Dunklin, Iron, Wayne, Stoddard and Mississippi will see rates rise 12 percent, from 82 cents per 100 cubic feet to 92 cents.

The purchased gas adjustment represents about two-thirds of the average gas bill, said Mike Cleary, a spokesman for AmerenUE. The remainder of the bill covers Ameren's fixed costs and return on investment, so the average customer will see about a 7.4 percent decline in costs if the winter is normal, he said.

The reduction will be smaller for the 1,900 Ameren customers in the Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America service area in Butler, Stoddard and Bollinger counties.

The PSC approved the winter rates Tuesday, to take effect today.

The credit on the upcoming Ameren bills, called a "Special Gas Credit," is being made because Ameren switched from a purchased gas adjustment based on the costs in each of the four areas it serves to a formula based on the costs for all areas with variations only for transmission cost, Cleary said. Nonresidential users in the Cape Girardeau area will receive an average credit of $328.

The change "simplifies it," Cleary said. "It is intended to benefit customers by keeping prices more stable and less susceptible to market variations."

Customers in the smaller Natural Gas Pipeline Co. of America region will not receive the credit.

Second year in row

The rate cut for Ameren customers is the second year in a row in which customers in Cape Girardeau have enjoyed falling gas prices.

The credit will be applied to the bills of current customers based on the usage at the location where they are using the gas. About 20 percent of Ameren's residential customers change their residence each year, Cleary said, and the only way for the utility to make sure the entire amount of the credits are distributed is to give them to the current customer at each location.

"That is a fairly high percentage," Cleary said. "We are trying to be totally even on this."

The changes in the rates reflect changes in the wholesale cost of gas and pipeline charges to bring the gas to the region. Utilities pass on both increases and savings to customers and do not profit from the adjustments.

rkeller@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126