Enstar gas prices won’t change much for the next 7 months. Rates will hold steady at just under 78 cents per hundred cubic feet starting in January. That’s 5 and half cents over current rates and about the same as last winter. For an average household on an average month, that’s a $6.70 increase from current rates.
Company spokesperson John Sims says the rate is about average for the past five years. Gas costs will continue to rise slightly because of inflation.
Over the past year, the company’s gas cost adjustment swung from about 76 cents per 100 cubic feet of gas in the winter to 46 cents in the spring then back up again for summer. Community members expressed concern about the swings during a meeting with the Regulatory Commission of Alaska this summer.
The rate dropped slightly this fall to 71 cents. According to regulatory filings, the company is still trying to make up for a $5 million deficit in the Gas Cost Balancing Account.
The second quarter drop to 46 cents was an anomaly.
To prevent such large fluctuations in the future, the company is reverting to a yearly cost adjustment instead of quarterly. They’re working their way toward that goal by making a 6-month adjustment that will go into effect in January.
Sims says yearly adjustments will start in July 2015 so people can set their budgets before the cold winter months.
Anne Hillman is the healthy communities editor at Alaska Public Media and a host of Hometown, Alaska. Reach her atahillman@alaskapublic.org. Read more about Annehere.
