Lower natural gas winter rates set for some Arkansas residential ... - Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Lower natural gas winter rates set for some Arkansas residential customers

Winter rates for three of Arkansas' natural-gas utilities will be lower this year, according to Wednesday news releases from the utilities.

The Arkansas Public Service Commission requires utilities to adjust their gas prices each Nov. 1 and April 1. The utilities are allowed to pass along their gas supply rate -- basically the cost of acquiring natural gas -- to customers, but they cannot make a profit. The gas supply rate includes what the utility pays its suppliers for natural gas.

Residential customers of Summit Utilities Inc., the largest natural gas utility in Arkansas, will pay $0.7977 per 100 cubic feet, down from the $1.2239 per 100 cubic feet rate set on Nov. 1, 2022, a 34.8% decrease. The winter rate set in November 2021 was $0.9063, in Nov. 2020 it was $0.4405.

Black Hills Energy residential customers in Northwest Arkansas will pay $0.47 per hundred cubic feet, about 33% lower compared to last winter's $0.70 rate, the company said.

"Historic natural gas production and above-average storage have provided a stable market to power this winter's heating and electric generation needs," said Marc Eyre, vice president of operations for Black Hills in Arkansas. "As Arkansans are seeing the first cold snap of the season, we are educating our customers on energy costs while also preparing for colder weather."

Arkansas Oklahoma Gas' Arkansas residential customers -- there are around 45,000 in the Fort Smith area -- will pay $0.5296 per 100 cubic feet, down 51.8% from last winter, the utility said.

The utility said its customers are benefiting from a successful lawsuit against BP Energy Company for breach of contract. In February 2021, BP failed to supply natural gas during a winter storm and cold wave that caused 9.9 million people in the United States and Mexico to lose power amid the catastrophic Texas Interconnection grid power crisis. The $18 million Arkansas Oklahoma Gas got from the lawsuit is reflected in the new cost-of-gas rate.

Arkansas Oklahoma Gas is a subsidiary of Denver-based Summit Utilities, which acquired it in 2017. Summit then bought CenterPoint Energy, Inc.'s Arkansas and Oklahoma gas distribution assets four years later, closing the deal in January 2022.

A difficult transition from CenterPoint Energy to Summit Utilities, specifically with billing services, led to hundreds of reports of overbilling from customers. Summit adjusted the billing system on Nov. 1 last year and the Public Service Commission began collecting complaints from customers before the end of the month.

The complaints led Attorney General Tim Griffin to contact Kurt Adams, Summit's chief executive officer, questioning why Arkansans were experiencing overcharges and billing problems.

"At this point it appears to be a mess," Griffin said in February, noting there were overcharges as well as billing and data complications. "There are several forces coming together at once that have made this storm."

About 127,000 Summit customers in Arkansas received incorrect bills, the Arkansas Public Service Commission said.

In March, Griffin asked the PSC to investigate the billing and gas-purchasing practices of Summit Utilities and in May, the PSC ordered Summit not to collect late fees or suspend service for its customers in the state.

In July, the PSC staff reported that Summit had cleaned up its billing errors and customer service problems and called on the commission to continue monitoring the utility for the next two years as a preventive measure.

Summit was allowed in September to resume customer service shut-offs for failure to pay bills and to also resume charging late-fee penalties.

The PSC ruled that the utility, which had not shut off customers or collected late fees since November 2022, could restart the programs since it had been cleared of any rules violations related to its gas-purchase and billing practices.

"Our team is dedicated to obtaining the lowest natural gas prices for our customers, and we are grateful customers will see lower bills this winter than they saw last year," Fred Kirkwood, Summit's chief customer experience officer, said in Wednesday's news release. "We encourage customers who face challenges paying their bills to call our customer service department for payment and billing options and information on payment assistance programs that can help you and your family be safe and warm this winter."

Customer assistance is available online at summitcares.com and over the phone at (800) 992-7552 from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekdays.

Summit entities serve approximately 625,000 customers in six states and operate more than 23,400 miles of pipeline.