Heating Costs in the Toledo Area

Stacy Kess of the Toledo Free Press wrote this week's cover story that deals with the "Many issues that affect your gas bill" Given the amount of discussion and concern in this area on this issue I highly recommend it. The information she's provided helps make sense of some of the confusion surrounding understanding our gas bills.

Using the handy "Apples to Apples" information provided by the PUCO makes for some interesting discoveries:

In Toledo right now, the average cost of gas:

Columbia Gas of Ohio’s current total rate is $1.57486 per hundred cubic feet (Ccf), effective from January 31, 2006 to February 28, 2006. This includes a Gas Cost Recovery (GCR) rate of $1.28061 per Ccf, a gross receipts tax of $0.06313 per Ccf, and transportation costs of $0.23112 per Ccf.

Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio's current total rate is $1.21856 per hundred cubic feet (Ccf), effective from February 1, 2006 to February 28, 2006. This includes a Gas Cost Recovery (GCR) rate of $0.99543 per Ccf, a gross receipts tax of $0.04854 per Ccf, and transportation costs of $0.17459 per Ccf. Vectren Energy.

Cincinnati Gas and Electric's (CG&E) current total rate is $1.2743 per hundred cubic feet (Ccf), effective from February 1, 2006 to March 1, 2006. This includes a Gas Cost Recovery (GCR) rate of $1.0049 per Ccf, a gross receipts tax of $0.0491 per Ccf, and transportation costs of $0.2203 per Ccf.

Dominion East Ohio Rate Schedule current total rate is $15.3294 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), effective from February 7, 2006 to March 7, 2006. This includes a Gas Cost Recovery (GCR) rate of $12.5040 per Mcf, a gross receipts tax of $0.6122 per Mcf, and transportation costs of $2.2132 per Mcf. (Yes, they use thousand cubic feet rather than hundred cubic feet)

Also at the PUCO link there is a list of all of the suppliers for Natural Gas so you can compare to see what your potential savings could be. There is also an Interactive Calculator that you can use to help you see if you are getting the best value for your dollar when it comes to natural gas. It is a pretty neat feature that doesn't get talked about as often as it should.

With the upcoming legislation to have the PUCO members be elected rather than appointed, I predict that this will become a hot political topic in the very near future....