Natural Gas Rates Recently Decreased
Effective December 1, 2006, PECO decreased its natural gas rate by nearly 4%, making it the fourth consecutive quarterly rate decrease and rolling rates back 24% lower than last December. With this decrease, PECO estimates that the total bill for a typical residential customer that uses 200 cubic feet of gas a month will save about $80 compared to last winter. Actual monthly usage varies widely depending on the size and energy efficiency of the home, weather and other factors. The gas rate will drop from $1.29 per hundred cubic feet (ccf) to $1.24 per ccf.
A residential heating customer using 100 ccf will pay $131 a month while customers using 200 ccf in a month will spend $255, including the $7.20 fixed monthly service charge. The U.S. Department of Energy has forecast households with natural gas heat will pay less than those with alternative heating systems, such as oil and propane (source: Energy Information Administration).
Roughly seventy-five percent of a monthly natural gas bill is the "purchased gas cost". In other words, the price PECO pays to buy natural gas on behalf of customers. This cost is market driven, and is not solely controlled by PECO and appears on bills without any additional mark-up. PECO's base delivery charge has been essentially the same since 1988.
For more information on natural gas rates, see “Understanding Natural Gas Rates.”
For more information on your natural gas utility bill, see “Understanding Your Natural Gas Bill.”
For information on flexible bill payment options offered by PECO, including Budget Billing, see “Your Account.”
For information on help paying your utility bill, see “Assistance Programs.”