The company has about 39,400 customers in Clark County and 5,400 in Champaign County. The number of customers in the two counties who are on the Budget Payment Plan was not available.
The plan spreads natural gas costs evenly over a 12-month period to help customers avoid high gas bills during the winter. The plan’s billing cycle for the next 12 months begins in August.
Records for the program only go back to about 2004, Stammen said, but this year’s rate is about $9 lower than last year, which had previously been the lowest rate in several years. Last year, the average rate was about $75.
“It’s among the lowest budget payment plan amounts we’ve had in almost a decade,” Stammen said.
The highest was in 2008, when demand far exceeded supply and the average rate was about $133 a month.
Over the last few years however, there has been a significant increase in natural gas production in the U.S. while demand has decreased — including after an unusually mild winter this year.
“The market is reacting to that,” Stammen said.
Each customer’s budget billing amount is different. It is based on the historical has usage patterns for a residence, the projected cost of natural gas on the wholesale market and rates for service and delivery, according to information from Columbia Gas.
Several other energy companies serving customers in Ohio are also reducing their projected budget billing payments, said Marty Berkowitz, a spokesman for the Ohio Consumers Council, a residential utility consumer advocate.
“We would think that’s a good thing for customers,” Berkowitz said.
Earlier this year, Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio cut its budget-billing amounts by as much as 35 percent due to low natural gas prices and last year’s mild weather. Vectren serves 315,000 customers in Ohio. Its service areas include all or parts of Butler, Champaign, Clark, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery, Preble and Warren Counties.
Columbia Gas of Ohio serves about 1.4 million customers, in 61 of Ohio’s 88 counties. according to information from the company. It is based in Columbus and is one of the largest natural gas suppliers in Ohio.
For more information on the program, residents can enroll online at columbiagasohio.com. Residents can also call 1 (800) - 344-4077 for more information on the budget plan.
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