State debates changes to Dominion East bills

By Don Shilling

The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel objects to a change in Dominion’s billing structure.

Changes to the distribution part of the Dominion East Ohio’s bills are being debated by state regulators.

The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio has proposed moving most distribution costs from a usage-based system to a flat fee. The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel, which represents residential utility customers in rate cases, filed an objection to the proposal Monday.

Dominion customers in Northeast Ohio now pay $5.70 a month to cover administrative costs, such as billing and meter reading. They also pay a distribution fee that covers the cost of delivering gas. It varies by usage.

Together, these two charges make up about 25 percent of a customer’s bill. The rest covers the cost of buying gas.

The PUCO staff has recommended that the administrative fee and most of the distribution costs be wrapped into one flat fee of $17.50 a month, although there still would be a small variable fee for distribution. The variable part of the bill would fall from $1.24 per thousand cubic feet of gas to 36 cents per thousand cubic feet.

Matt Butler, a PUCO spokesman, said he didn’t have figures on what this would mean to an average customer. In a recent case with Duke Energy in Cincinnati, similar changes resulted in a $4 a month increase, he said.

Public hearings will be held on the Dominion case. The PUCO is expected to decide the case in the fall.

Butler said the PUCO staff thinks high-volume users should not pay more for distribution than low-volume users because the costs of installing and maintaining natural gas lines is the same for both customers.

The Ohio Consumers’ Counsel said the change would be unfair because customers who conserve and lower their usage would be paying the same for distribution as higher-volume users.

Neil Durbin, a Dominion spokesman, said the utility didn’t want to comment on the objection and is willing to work through the hearing process with the PUCO.

shilling@vindy.com