Utilities 101: How to Read Your Cascade Natural Gas Bill

For many customers, understanding what goes into your monthly energy bill can be confusing. In this blog series, we will discuss how to understand your energy bill. This guide is for customers of Cascade Natural Gas.

Not a Cascade Natural Gas customer? Check out our bill guides for NW Natural, Portland General Electric, Pacific Power, and Idaho Power customers. Stay tuned for guides on Oregon’s other major energy utilities coming to the CUB Blog soon!

How to View Your Cascade Natural Gas Bill

Many Cascade customers receive physical bills in the mail. If you are one of these, viewing your bill is as easy as opening an envelope.

If you receive your bill electronically, you can access your bill by logging into your Cascade account online at www.cngc.com. Even if you receive your bill in the mail, you will also be able to view it online.

Anatomy of a Cascade Natural Gas Bill

Account Summary
The Account Summary section of your bill shows the charges from last month and new charges. Many customers may just want to know how much their bill is for the month.

This section shows only the information for your current bill, including existing and new charges, the due date, and the amount due. You can find this information on the top right corner of the bill, as well.

Gas Charges
The Gas Charges section shows you how you are being charged and what you are being charged for. You can find out how much gas your home used during the billing period and how that compares to previous months in the graph below. This is also the section where you can see the breakdown of the charges for your total bill.

In the billing information section, you can find the dates you are being billed for, as well as important account information.

At the top of this section, you can see your meter number. Your meter is the device that tracks the amount of gas you use at home. Cascade looks at your meter each month, either remotely or in person, and tracks the meter reading numbers to determine how much gas to bill you for. The rate determines how much you are billed based on that meter reading and differs between types of customers (residential, commercial, etc.).

Below, you will find a detailed breakdown of your meter reading. For most of your bill, the amount of gas you used will be measured in Therms. A therm is a unit of measurement for heat energy. A typical Cascade customer household uses about 60 therms per month, though amounts vary between households.

You can also view how much energy your home has used over the past year broken down by month in the Usage History (Therms) graph. It’s normal to see higher energy use in the winter months during the heating season.

The bottom of the Gas Charges section shows all the charges that are included in your current bill.

This section shows the charges for this billing period only. If you have any outstanding charges, those will not be broken down in this section. You can find any outstanding charges in the top left section of your bill. Current charges include:

• Basic Service Charge: Same amount each month ($6.00 for most residential customers), covers administrative costs like customer service and billing, and fixed costs like the cost of the meter.
• Delivery Charge: This charge covers the cost of delivering gas to you, as well as Cascade’s cost of delivering it to you. The charge is the amount of gas you used (in Therms) multiplied by the delivery charge rate.
• Average Cost of Gas: This charge covers the cost of gas. The charge is the amount of gas you used (in Therms) multiplied by the average cost of gas per unit.
• City Tax: Local governments charge an additional tax or fee, like the 2% in the example above. These additional charges vary depending on where you live.
• Public Purpose Charge: This charge is equal to 3 percent of your bill. These dollars are dedicated to energy efficiency programs, market transformation programs, residential low-income energy efficiency programs, and residential low-income bill payment assistance programs.

The Total Gas Charges is what is owed on the current bill, not including any outstanding charges from past months. The due date for this bill and the total amount due is found on the top left corner of the bill.

Still have questions about understanding your bill? Call Cascade’s customer service at 888-522-1130. Or contact CUB at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) or 503-227-1984 ext. 1.

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