Cost of heating with gas to rise in NW

OLYMPIA – The Northwest won’t avoid the natural gas price increases hitting the country this winter, but consumers here should fare better than others in the nation, a top state regulator says.

“It’s cold comfort for people,” said Mark Sidran, chairman of the state Utilities and Transportation Commission.

Sidran’s commission, which heard reports from the state’s four major natural gas utilities on Wednesday, is weighing a round of natural gas rate increase requests.

Late last month, the commission approved requests from Puget Sound Energy and Northwest Natural Gas Co. to raise rates between 12 percent and 15 percent. Those rates took effect this month, and are the highest ever paid by Washington consumers, the commission said.

Commissioners are considering a second set of rate increases Oct. 26, when they meet with officials from Cascade Natural Gas and Avista. Those utilities each have asked for rate increases of 23 percent to 26 percent.

And even with prices climbing, the cost remains low in the Northwest, he said.

The Northwest’s main market hub has maintained its historically low wholesale prices – even after hurricanes battered energy production along the Gulf Coast, Sidran said.

“As of at least two weeks ago, after Katrina and Rita, the price at Sumas was the lowest hub market price in the United States,” he said.

Nevertheless, hurricane damage is having a major effect on the nation’s supply, said Dan Kirschner, director of the Northwest Gas Association.

The Gulf Coast region, which provides about 20 percent of the nation’s natural gas supplies, still was without 60 percent of its capacity this week, Kirschner told the commission.

Overall, the Northwest’s natural gas supplies appear to be in good shape heading into the winter months – even if the bill is hard to stomach, Sidran said.

“There is sufficient supply of natural gas to meet the needs of the region this winter. But the price will be higher than anyone would like,” he said.