Tracking Natural Gas Market Prices
Base Rates and Non-Base Rates
CFU Natural Gas Base Rate
Basic Service Charge + Delivery Charge
Your natural gas bill consists of two components, a base rate and a non-base rate. The natural gas base rate includes a basic service charge which covers costs like customer services and meter maintenance and a delivery charge that covers the cost of CFU's natural gas distribution system and delivering gas to homes.
Non-Base Rate
Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA)
The non-base rate portion of your natural gas bill is the Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) and is a pass-through charge for the cost of gas. The PGA reflects the cost of the natural gas commodity and its delivery to Cedar Falls. This component of the bill changes each month based on the wholesale price CFU pays for the gas it provides to customers. CFU does not markup what we pay for natural gas. If gas market costs go up or down, so does the PGA.
Natural Gas Market Costs this Winter
CFU cautions customers that higher natural gas market prices are expected this year. In addition, the operator of the pipeline used to transport gas to Cedar Falls is planning a significant gas transportation rate increase. Based on current projections, we anticipate the PGA portion of utility bills could be 15% higher this heating season. Utility bill impacts will vary by customer usage, winter temperatures and continued market fluctuations.
CFU works on behalf of our customers to reduce the volatility of commodity costs by using a combination of long-term contracts, hedges and preset monthly gas prices to minimize the PGA and the impact on utility bills as much as possible. Electric market costs reflected in the Net Energy Cost Adjustment are expected to remain steady.