COUNTY NEWS RELEASE
With temperatures dropping and heaters running, staff at the Los Alamos Department of Public Utilities (DPU) have been hearing the question, “Why is there a gas recovery section on my bill?”
The gas recovery charge is a temporary natural gas cost recovery mechanism to cover a $2.2 million shortfall that occurred when commodity gas costs spiked last winter. This charge was approved by the Los Alamos County Council last March and DPU began billing it in April. While it is an additional component of the variable gas rate that is updated each month, it shows on a separate line on customers’ bills because it is temporary.
This $0.44/therm charge will be discontinued (or sunset) as soon as the $2.2 million shortfall has been recovered or by April 2025, whichever comes first.
DPU charges natural customers a fixed service fee each month and a variable commodity rate based on gas consumption. The variable portion is updated on the 8th of each month and is posted online at ladpu.com/GasRateNow.
The variable rate is made up of the following three parts.
- A fixed consumption charge of $0.27/therm for residential and commercial customers is the portion of the rate that covers DPU’s gas maintenance and operations expenses.
- A variable cost of gas rate, which changes monthly depending on DPU’s cost to purchase and deliver natural gas to its customer is sometimes referred to as the “pass-through” portion of the rate. This variable portion allows actual costs to be passed along to the customers. It is charged per therm of gas consumption.
- The recovery charge of $0.44/therm is being billed to all natural gas customers until the shortfall has been recovered, or until April 2025, and will then sunset.
The natural gas total consumption charge per therm, including the recovery charge, for January 2024 for residential and commercial customers is $1.12/therm. A year ago, it was $1.24/therm.
The full calculation for the variable cost of gas rate is available online at ladpu.com/rates under “Natural Gas.”