MidAmerican Energy prepares customers for higher natural gas bills

A MidAmerican Energy Press Release

DES MOINES, Iowa – (October 12, 2021) – MidAmerican Energy is alerting its customers that higher natural gas prices will impact most monthly heating bills during the upcoming winter season.

Natural gas market prices have more than doubled from this time last year, as increased global demand coupled with both limited production and inventory have heavily increased the cost for MidAmerican to purchase the natural gas it delivers to its customers.

“We’re not seeing signs of supply challenges this winter, but we do expect to see higher customer bills because of higher commodity prices,” Peggi Allenback, MidAmerican vice president of market operations and supply, said. “We don’t mark up what we pay for natural gas, rather the cost of the commodity is a straight pass-through to customers. We purchase a portion of gas in advance at the best possible price, and in warmer months, when gas is generally cheaper, we store it for use in winter to help protect our customers financially. Despite these efforts, though, we want our customers to understand that natural gas bills will still be higher this heating season.”

The higher market prices will affect a customer’s gas supply charge, which is the cost of the natural gas the customer uses. Market price fluctuations do not affect rates, which include fixed administrative costs, as well as costs associated with maintaining infrastructure and ensuring safety.

Actual bill impacts will vary by customer due to usage as temperatures get colder and market prices continue to fluctuate. But, based on the market prices for natural gas over the last month, residential customers in MidAmerican’s service area can likely expect their total bills to increase by 46-96%. The heating season runs from November through March.

Posted by on Oct 13 2021. Filed under State News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

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