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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) -- A rate cut for natural gas in Utah takes prices back to pre-Katrina levels.
The Utah Public Service Commission ordered the rate cut effective today, saving residents $64.38 a year.
That brings gas rates back to 2005 levels before hurricanes Katrina and Rita knocked out about 20 percent of the nation's natural gas production in the Gulf Coast. The hurricanes sent prices soaring, but production is higher now.
Utah's natural gas customers pay some of the lowest gas rates in the lower 48 states, but those prices can be volatile.
Questar says its natural-gas costs are down for the second winter in a row. It didn't object to the rate cut -- gas is a regulated commodity and prices are controlled by the PSC.
Questar supplies gas at cost to customers, with about half of those supplies coming from the company's own leased gas fields in Wyoming. The utility says Utah customers pay about half the national average for natural gas.
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Information from: The Salt Lake Tribune
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
