Natural Gas Prices to Jump Nov. 1st, Including Tri-Cities–How Much?

The Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission said Thursday, Oct. 28th, that rate hikes are coming for all of the state's four natural gas suppliers.

WUTC officials blame the rate increases on COVID, slowed production, as well as price hikes on the natural gas market. The WUTC approved rate hikes in response to requests from the suppliers, who said the nation is facing overall higher prices.

No doubt the dents made in the petroleum industry are not helping, nor is the economic fallout from the pipeline destroyed by the Biden Administration.

Locally, Cascade Natural Gas is one of the four suppliers, and customers in the Columbia Basin area will see a rate hike of about 17.7 percent.

Get our free mobile app

For a customer who uses the average amount of gas, this is what you can see. Cascade supplies about 225,000 customers. According to the WUTC:

"The typical Cascade residential customer using 56 therms a month will see an increase of 17.57% or $9.85, for an average monthly bill of $65.90."

The Cascade rate hike is nearly double those that will be seen by Puget Sound Energy, Avista and Northwest National (which serves southwestern WA).

This will also impact restaurants and businesses who utilize natural gas, often on a much larger scale (for cooking etc).  WUTC did not offer any speculation as to what some of those rate hikes would look like for them.

Perhaps time to add insulation and throw on a sweater?