Sep. 3--This coming winter, Utahns might be paying about 20 percent less to keep the winter chill out of their homes than last year.

Questar Gas, the utility that provides most Utahns with natural gas, is asking the state's top utility regulators to allow it to reduce what it charges customers for the fuel by a total $6.7 million, or about one-half percent.

Although that represents a reduction of only about 30 cents a month for a typical Utah natural gas customer, two earlier rate reductions -- 6 percent in November and 16 percent in May -- should help ease the burden on the state's recession-weary population this winter.

"The cost of buying natural gas for our customers has declined significantly in recent months, and is projected to stay low for the next 12 months, so we're passing the savings on," Ron Jibson, Questar Gas president, said in announcing the rate decrease.

The utility is making the request in what is known as a "pass-through" rate case.

Questar doesn't make money from the natural gas it supplies its customers at cost, but generates profits by charging Utahns to deliver the fuel to their homes and businesses.

In pass-through rate cases, the company is merely adjusting the amount it charges for natural gas. Those charges are based on what the company expects to spend when it buys the fuel for delivery over its system.

"It is good to hear that Utah families, many of whom are struggling to make ends meet,

will not have to pay higher natural gas rates this winter," said Betsy Wolf, an advocate for low-income Utahns with the Salt Lake Community Action Program.

Questar, whose rates for natural gas in Utah are among the lowest in the nation, typically files pass-through cases twice a year, usually in the spring and fall.

Questar's requests -- over the past 20 years it has asked to decrease rates 25 times and increase them 17 -- are based on internal and third-party forecasts of natural gas prices.

Those projections are used to estimate how much the utility will need to collect from its customers to cover the anticipated cost of buying the fuel over the next 12 months.

Questar is asking the Utah Public Service Commission to allow the new rates to go into effect on Oct. 1.

steve@sltrib.com

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