Apr. 11--Joplin residents who want to intervene in a proposal by Missouri Gas Energy to raise rates have until April 27 to do so.

MGE customers could see their monthly bill rise by $5.21 a month if a request by the natural-gas provider is approved by the Missouri Public Service Commission.

MGE, based in Kansas City, is seeking to raise about $32.4 million in additional revenue, an increase of about 4.7 percent.

The PSC will hold a hearing into the request in October.

"Typically, it takes about 11 months or so," Pam Levetzow, MGE spokeswoman, said of the time for the PSC decision.

The request was filed April 2.

At the same time, MGE also has filed a request with the state to reduce what is known as its cost of gas charge (COG) from the current 77.4 cents per hundred cubic feet (ccf) to 54.2 cents per ccf. The proposed reduction, if approved, would amount to about a $6.22 decrease per month for the typical residential customer from April through October.

That's about half of what the rate was last summer, when it was $1.04 per hundred cubic feet.

"It hasn't been this low since Nov. 1, 2002," said Levetzow.

In a statement last week, the company said the proposal to increase delivery rates is driven by increased environmental costs.

Levetzow said MGE owns property that 80 to 100 years ago was used to manufacture natural gas and those sites -- none of which are in Southwest Missouri -- require cleanup. The company is working with the Missouri Department of Natural Resources on the cleanup.

"Our recovery of those costs via a rate case is a pretty common recovery mechanism for this. It's not unique to MGE nor is it unique to Missouri. It's just the way natural gas was manufactured many, many years ago," she said.

Other expenses, primarily related to recently approved collective-bargaining agreements, continued increases in uncollectible expenses, and cost increases associated with operating and maintaining an 8,000-mile distribution system also are driving the rate request.

The proposal to increase delivery charges is not related to MGE's request to reduce the cost of gas charge, which makes up approximately 70 percent of a typical residential customer's overall bill.

The cost of gas charge is comprised of the wholesale price of natural gas plus interstate transportation and storage costs. MGE does not make any profit on that, but simply passes along the cost.

The PSC is expected to rule on the cost of gas reduction request within 30 days.

Applications to intervene and participate in this case must be filed no later than April 27 with the Secretary of the Missouri Public Service Commission, P.O. Box 360, Jefferson City, MO 65102. Copies of the application also should be sent to: James Swearengen, of Brydon, Swearengen & England, 312 E. Capitol Av., P.O. Box 456, Jefferson City, MO 65102; and the Office of the Public Counsel, P.O. Box 2230, Jefferson City, M) 65102.

The Office of the Public Counsel is a separate state agency that represents ratepayers before the commission.

Missouri Gas Energy, a division of Southern Union Co., serves more than a half million people in western Missouri, including Joplin and Monett.

Prices falling

Natural-gas producers in Oklahoma are struggling with low prices ranging from about $2.75 to $3 per thousand cubic feet. That's down more than $5 from one year ago when gas was selling for $8.45 per thousand cubic feet.

Tony Say, president of Oklahoma City gas marketing company Clearwater Enterprises, said he sees little change in the prices anytime soon.

He says there is a record 1.65 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in storage and unless the summer is extremely hot the record storage will continue through the start of next winter.

Say said the recession has caused manufacturing companies to use 4 billion to 5 billion less cubic feet of natural gas per day.

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