ENSTAR bills have been causing some confusion and concern since media outlets began decrying a 40% increase in costs early last year.
John Sims with the natural gas utility said the steep rise seen in print wasn’t as dramatic as it seems…
Sims: “It was the increase of the gas cost, a lot of times when we present that information we try to show the effect on the total bill itself, so that can be a point of confusion as well. The Enstar component that Enstar makes money on did not change at all just the gas at that cost.”
To prevent the frequent changes in charges, ENSTAR will start adjusting its rates on an annual basis instead of quarterly.
Sims said overall gas is cheaper now than in 2009.
Sims: “Based on the markets at that time and what our contacts were indexed against, the cost of gas was more expensive in 2009, it was hanging right around the 9-10$ range and currently we’re right in the 7-8$ range. Still a really good story as far as Cook Inlet goes, we are different than the lower 48 in that we’re not connected to all those in decease. Most utilities are buying on the spot market, their buying on a monthly basis, we don’t have that luxury.”
The annual rate adjustments will take effect July 1 of this year.