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What to Expect on Your Bill from NW Natural’s Rate Increase

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Charlotte Shuff
Tags,  Energy,  General Interest

Two people sit at a table looking at a bill, calculator and coffees on the table

In October 2022, state regulators approved two rate increases for NW Natural. These bill increases started November 1 but will be slowly rolled out over the next few months. This blog explains what you can expect on your bill in the coming months.

NW Natural Bills are Going Up – In Stages

Over the next year, NW Natural rates for households are going up. Thanks to an agreement with the utility and Oregon CUB, the bill increases will not happen all at once. Over the next year, rates will increase by a total of 25% for residential customers with some of that increase waiting until Spring 2023.

NW Natural households is now offering an income-qualified bill discount program, which can provide a 15% to 40% discount on your monthly bills. Learn more on NW Natural’s website.

Stage 1: November 1, 2022 – March 14, 2023
During this winter heating season, NW Natural is raising rates by about 14.4%. Below is the expected bill breakdown for an average residential customer:

The winter heating season is when Oregon households use the most natural gas (methane). CUB worried that increasing rates by the full 25% all at once would be too overwhelming for many households. Instead, the utility will offer an automatic bill credit to households to keep the winter increase at 14.4%.

While we know this increase will still impact many families, this delay should help make the bill increase more manageable during the heating season. CUB advocated for this agreement in order to help prevent widespread disconnections.

Stage 2: March 15-31, 2023
After the weather warms up, NW Natural will raise rates by an additional 10%. Below is the expected bill breakdown for an average residential customer:

These added increases will be up from the pre-November rates. This brings the total increase up to the 25% total approved by regulators in November.

In addition to this increase, rate will also temporarily increase (until November 1, 2023) to cover the credit between November 1, 2022 and March 15, 2023. The cost of the bill credit will be recovered from all residential customers, not individual usage. The temporary increase is included in the table above, but the final amount may be lower or higher based on actual usage of residential customers between November 2022, and March 14, 2023.

CUB Recommends Equal Pay

CUB recommends that natural gas customers sign up for the Equal pay Program: https://www.nwnatural.com/business/account/manage-billing-options/payment-plans

This program will ensure that you know exactly how much your gas bill is each month. With Equal Pay, your bill is the same each month for an eleven-month period. Each month is based on an estimate of your gas usage for the whole year. In the twelfth month, NW Natural will calculate your actual usage and adjust your bill for the difference.

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12/01/22  |  4 Comments  |  What to Expect on Your Bill from NW Natural’s Rate Increase

Comments

  • 1.This still not spell out exactly how the monies not paid November through March will be allotted. Will the total dollar amount not received by NW Natural during this period be divided by the number of residential customers and each customer will pay the same additional dollars? If not, exactly how is to be determined.

    Thank you for all you do.

    Mary Miles | December 2022

  • 2.Sorry, but I don’t see that the CUB has been very effective in holding down rate increases, whether for private or public utilities.

    And as a middle-class rate payer it seems as though most of the discounts, etc., to low-income users come out of MY pockets as a a surcharge on my various utility bills.

    In short, I feel that the CUB is all talk and not enough real action for all ratepayers and could be doing far better by all of us.

    J | December 2022

  • 3.I was initially confused by your bill tables. I was expecting them to show how the rate increase would appear. Instead, I just see the amount that I'm likely to pay. That's useful too, but in order to understand what part of these price tags is due to the rate increase, it would have been helpful to also have something like a "pre-rate increase" column for comparison. Especially because the rate increase is being rolled out in increments.

    Alan Shusterman | December 2022

  • 4.Agreed with Alan. This is a very complex and confusing rollout of a very large rate increase. Perhaps most confusing is the "recovery amount" to cover the generosity of giving us only a 10% rate hike to start, where recouping that generosity will come directly from customers but appears will be distributed by individual/household and not based on usage. This is completely opaque. I am concerned that the "recovery amounts" through Nov 1, 2023 will be unequally applied as it is not usage based. Flat fees do not encourage conservation. It's almost like by making the rate increases so stochastic customers cannot follow what the actual rate increase is. Please make this more transparent - both in the examples provided an in our bills. We deserve to know what we're paying and how it aligns with our usage.

    C | August 2023

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