About 4,000 AmerenUE customers in the Rolla, Salem and Owensville area would pay more for natural gas under a new Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) filed with the Missouri Public Service Commission (PSC), while prices for the remainder of UE’s 127,000 Missouri gas customers would remain unchanged. The increase for Rolla, Salem and Owensville is due to a significant increase in the transportation charge from MoGas Pipeline LLC—one of the pipelines that the gas must pass through to get to that area. Subject to PSC review and approval, the new PGA would become effective Jan. 1, 2010.
Under the filing, the PGA for Rolla, Salem and Owensville customers would increase from $1.09 per Ccf (hundred cubic feet) to $1.30 per Ccf—an increase of about 19 percent. For residential customers, the PGA accounts for about two-thirds of an average gas bill, excluding taxes, so the net effect on a customer’s total bill would be an increase of about $21 per month, or about 14 percent, during the remainder of the winter heating season.
The PGA reflects the wholesale cost of gas from UE’s suppliers, plus the cost of transporting that gas to the UE system. The PGA also includes an adjustment to compensate for any under- or over-collection of actual costs in previous periods. Wholesale gas costs are not regulated, and go up or down based on market conditions of supply and demand. UE passes these costs through to customers, dollar for dollar, through the PGA, without any “markup” in price.
The increase for the Rolla, Salem and Owensville area is primarily due to a transportation charge increase by MoGas Pipeline LLC, which the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has allowed MoGas to put into effect on an interim basis Jan. 1, 2010, subject to refund when FERC issues a final decision. That decision is not expected until October 2010. Any refund that results from the FERC decision would result in a reduction in UE’s PGA for those customers when the decision becomes effective.
UE has intervened in the FERC case in opposition to the MoGas increase and is an active participant in the case.
AmerenUE, founded in 1902, provides electric and gas service to approximately 1.2 million customers across central and eastern Missouri, including the greater St. Louis area. UE serves 57 Missouri counties and 500 towns. For more information, visit www.ameren.com.
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Contact: Mike Cleary 573-681-7137