Published: November 06, 2009 08:55 am      

Natural gas bills slashed by 42 percent through January

By Becky Manley / Staff Writer

Natural gas users will see their bills slashed by over 40 percent through January.

The decrease announced by Delta Natural Company began Nov. 1, according to Robert Hazelrigg, external affairs manager for Delta. Among the reasons for decrease in natural gas wholesale prices is that more natural gas has been discovered and extracted through improved technology, Hazelrigg said.

Other influences behind the lower prices include the continued economic turndown and that gas prices may have been artificially high due in part to market speculation, Hazelrigg said.

The decrease means that a customer using 700 CCF of natural gas during a billing period will see a reduction of about 42 percent, Hazelrigg said.

Natural gas utilities don’t mark-up the cost of gas they buy and instead make their profit from monthly customer and delivery charges, Hazelrigg said. Those costs will remain the same, Hazelrigg said.

Delta serves about 37,000 customers in 23 central and southeastern Kentucky counties.