Nov. 8--Here are a number of updates having to do with energy issues -- both for natural gas and electricity.

Bill change

Your most recent bill from Dominion East Ohio shows the "Basic Monthly Charge" has gone up again, but another part of your bill has gone down.

Let me explain: the basic monthly charge, which is for such costs as meter readings, rendering bills and running Dominion's call center was a flat $5.70 until October 2008 when it went to $12.50.

An additional 30-cent surcharge to recoup costs to install automated meter reading equipment (AMR) brought that charge up to a flat $12.80 per month.

These changes were part of an approved settlement between the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and Dominion when the gas utility requested a rate increase in 2007.

Overall, the commission approved smaller increases than the regulated gas company requested. The PUCO cited the tough economy and its impact on consumers' ability to pay bills. In the settlement, what happened was the monthly service charge was to go up twice -- once in October 2008 and again this past October -- while "usage-based charges," for delivering gas to your house, went down.

The Ohio Consumers' Counsel, the residential utility advocate, at the time was not happy with that settlement, saying the increased fixed charges penalize people who conserve energy and that it would be especially hard on low-income consumers. But the settlement was cheaper than the $17.50 flat rate the PUCO staff was suggesting.

Dominion officials said last year's increase and decrease netted about $4.50 per month for the average customer.

Starting with October's bills, the new monthly service charge is $15.70 (which includes the 30-cent AMR rider) from $12.80 and the usage-based transportation charges are now $2.04 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) compared to $2.31/mcf.

Dominion officials said the new rates together mean the average residential customer will see a $1.06 total decrease in their monthly bills for the winter months of November through March and an increase of 70 cents per month for other times of the year.

I crunched some similar numbers and found about the same thing. During the winter months when you're using more gas, it does net a slightly lower bill. But it's pretty negligible at a few bucks.

Gas prices

If you've been procrastinating but still want to choose a gas supplier for the winter months, fixed prices have increased since August when I first wrote about pricing.