Tri-City Herald

Cascade Natural Gas customers should see a small increase in their bills starting Nov. 1, says the Washington State Utilities and Transportation Commission.

However, the increase will take back only a portion of a rate decrease that took effect Sept. 1.

The commission approved the increase this week to reflect costs of a pipeline replacement program already approved by the commission.

The average Cascade residential customer, using 49 therms a month, will see an increase of about 1.3 percent or 56 cents a month for a total monthly bill of $42.25, according to commission staff.

Starting in September the rate had decreased 8.7 percent for the average residential customer, based on Cascade’s wholesale cost for natural gas and a settlement agreement. The average monthly bill went down $2.98 cents.

The net change since September is a decrease of $2.42 a month in the average bill.