A message on December bills said that the Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA), which accounts for fluctuations in the price of wholesale gas, was increasing for all customers served by the Empire Gas District Company, is a subsidiary of Liberty serving a broad portion of the state’s north and west, from Sedalia and Nevada, through Platte City, and up to Tarkio. The increased PGA reflects an increase in the wholesale price of gas.
Most customers can expect a 9% to 26% increase on their winter bills, according to the mailed statement, but for customers in Empire Gas’s Northwest District, which includes communities north and west of Bolckow, MO, should expect an estimated increase of 70%.
The disparity is due to an expiring refund distributed to customers of the Northwest region from a pipeline which serves the area. The ANR Pipeline Company, which is not owned by Liberty, was forced by a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) rate case to issue customers a refund over the past year, but those refunds are now expired.
According to the billing statement, residents of the northwest “will see a more typical PGA rate on bills going forward.”
The increase may cause headaches for residents. Richard “JR” Chaney, the mayor of Rock Port, MO, one of the communities affected, was surprised to see the dramatic jump, noting some people in his city will “struggle” with the increases.
Rock Port provides water and electricity to its city residents, so he understands that “utilities have to make money for improvements and everything else,” Chaney said.
“I just thought that a 70% increase would be something that I would have a hard time selling to the people in my town," he continued. “We’re talking about adding a penny to our [power] rate [next year] and I’ve already put the information out there."
"I've heard some complaints and worries and I tell people: ‘We’re not planning to make a rate change for a year. We’re just getting it out there, so we can talk about it.' We’re not going to surprise people," Chaney said.
Liberty encourages customers worried about paying their bills to reach out to the customer care team by at 1 (800) 424-0427.
Community Services of Northwest Missouri, the region's coordinator for LIHEAP, the statewide utility payment assistance program, declined to share information about accessing resources at this time.
