(The Center Square) –
The Florida Public Service Commission held the final of two public hearings on Thursday concerning a request by the state’s largest natural gas company to increase its rates for customers.
In both hearings, there was no feedback from ratepayers, but emails opposing the rate hike continue to populate the rate case docket.
For a Peoples Gas System residential customer using up to 99 therms (a heat energy measure equivalent to 100,000 British Thermal Units) per month, their bill would increase from $19.10 to $26.50 (38.5%) if the commission approves the increase. For those using 100 to 1,999 therms, their cost would increase from $24.44 to $35.50 per month (45%).
The rate hike would go into effect on Jan. 1. The commission last approved a rate hike for the utility in 2023.
Peoples Gas System wants a nearly $103.6 million rate hike, justifying the increase because “existing base rates would not be sufficient to cover the company’s costs of service and provide an adequate return on invested capital.” more
I find it interesting that in that entire article, never was the cost of the gas itself mentioned.
Just for comparison, if I’m reading PG&E’s rate schedule correctly… A “therm” is about $3 in California right now. Equivalent to 1.093 gallons of propane, which costs about $3 here in Texas. This is the only commodity I’ve found that seems to be in parity between Kali and Texas.
However… a “therm” is defined as 100,000 BTU, which according to Wikipedia is the equivalent of 100 ft^3 of natural gas. The natural gas price in Texas at the moment is $3.47 per 1000 ft^3. Or 34 cents per therm…
This is why they protest pipeline construction…
KR
Back in the 70’s before they tore down the Ft. Lauderdale gas powered power plant they had a leak of the obnoxious skunk perfume they mixed into the gas to identify explosive gases. The company I worked for said it was dangerous and sent us all home early. I made an extra 15 dollars that day going home with pay.
For those who don’t know, the top pay was $3.15 per hour.
What I don’t understand is why does the price increase the more you use.
Propane is “stripped” from natural gas and has a higher BTU value, over twice as much
As we continue to build more export facilities for liquified natural gas expect rates to rise. Exports will compete for pipeline capacity with power generation and domestic use.
The reliability of the pipeline ‘grid’ is also being reduced by increasing reliance on electrical driven compression. Pipelines used to be immune to electrical grid failures as the compression was done with engines that were fueled by line gas. The EPA started changing that decades ago. Backup generators will not handle multiple 30 thousand HP electrical motors.
All costs in Florida are moving up it’s been doing this since I moved years ago the problem is the pay hasn’t kept up with inflation and taxes time to move up south.