When standard pressure is not used, a multiplier is applied to your consumption. When the actual cost of natural gas is more or lower than the Base Gas cost, the PGA (Purchased Gas Adjustment) is applied.
In a gas bill, what does PGA stand for?
Gas is purchased by each local natural gas utility for delivery to its main consumers. The price of this gas is a “cost of doing business” for the gas company and is not meant to allow them to profit from the purchases.
What exactly is the PGA rate?
The cost of the natural gas you use accounts for the majority of your gas bill. The Purchased Gas Adjustment refers to the price that Illinois gas companies pay for natural gas (PGA). It comprises the price utilities expect to pay for gas in the wholesale market, as well as the costs of transportation and storage, as well as any prior-month reconciliation. These fees can change month to month. The price of gas is not profited by gas utilities; it must be passed on to consumers without markup. The PGA is also known as the Natural Gas Cost or the Gas Charge on your gas bill.
The ICC has posted current and historical gas supply rates for each gas utility to help customers better understand how the cost of natural gas fluctuates. Below are graphs depicting the utilities’ gas supply charges for the current and previous two calendar years, as well as graphs depicting each utility’s historical gas supply charges for the previous ten years.
How do you figure out the CCF of a gas?
Here are some basic definitions of the terms used to describe the various types and amounts of energy you utilize.
- Watts = Amps x Volts
- 1Btu Is the amount of heat required to elevate one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit (1 btu/lb x degree F).
Factors that affect conversion:
- 1 CCF = 100 cubic feet
- 100,000 Btus = 1 CCF
- 100,000 Btus = 1 therm
- 1,000 Watts = 3,413 Btus = 1 kWh
- 100,000 Btus/therm x 3,413 Btus/kWh = 29.3 kWhs/therm (CCF).
- Water weighs 8.33 lbs per gallon.
- One cubic foot of water equals 7.48 gallons, and one cubic foot of air equals 748 gallons.
- 748 gallons Equals 100 cubic feet of water (CCF).
What does mcf stand for on a gas bill?
Natural gas can be priced in dollars per therm, dollars per MMBtu, or dollars per cubic foot in the United States.
1 To translate these costs from one price basis to another, the heat content of natural gas per physical unit (such as Btu per cubic foot) is required. The annual average heat content of natural gas provided to consumers in the United States in 2020 was around 1,037 Btu per cubic foot. As a result, 100 Ccf of natural gas equals 103,700 Btu, or 1.037 therms. A thousand cubic feet (Mcf) of natural gas equals 1.037 million British thermal units (MBtu), or 10.37 therms.
These calculations can be used to convert natural gas prices from one pricing basis to another (assuming a heat content of 1,037 Btu per cubic foot):
Natural gas heat content varies by location and type of natural gas customer, as well as with time. For information on the heat content of the natural gas they supply to their clients, consumers and analysts should contact natural gas distribution firms or natural gas suppliers. Customers’ invoices may include this information from some natural gas distribution providers or utilities.
1 Natural gas was measured in cubic feet by the US Energy Information Administration from 1964 to 1964 at a pressure of 14.65 psia (poundspersquareinchabsolute) at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Since 1965, the pressure basis has been 14.73 psia at 60 degrees Fahrenheit.
What exactly is a gas adjustment?
The Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) is a method that allows natural gas distribution utilities to change the price of natural gas supplied to customers on a regular basis to reflect the cost of purchasing the gas and transferring it to their system through pipeline.
Who has the most affordable natural gas?
Natural gas prices in Utah are the cheapest, at $9.12 per 1,000 cubic feet. That’s approximately 8% less than second-placed Montana. For the month, the average rate was $17.57.
Why is the price of natural gas so high?
The current price increase is being driven by a decrease in the amount of natural gas held in storage in the United States. According to the US Energy Department, gas in storage was 17% below its five-year average this week. Commodity traders, however, reacted this week to forecasts of hotter weather in the Southwest. Hot weather raises gas prices by increasing demand for air conditioning.
“Weather has the ability to shift these values drastically up and down,” Molchanov said. “If it’s a really hot summer, the price goes up; if it’s a very cold winter, the price goes up.”
What are CCF units, exactly?
Water usage is measured in a variety of ways by different utilities. The gallon and the centum cubic foot (CCF) are the most prevalent units. One hundred cubic feet of water is represented by a CCF, commonly known as an HCF (hundred cubic feet). The first “C” is derived from the Latin word “centum,” which means “hundred.” Both water and natural gas utilities utilize this as the most frequent unit. The gallon, on the other hand, may be a unit you’re more familiar with. 748 gallons are equal to one CCF.
What does your phrasing imply? The average American home uses about 88 gallons of water per day. In a 30-day period, a household of four would need roughly 10,500 gallons. However, because of variances in weather patterns, utilization varies greatly across the country. Water use is higher in drier portions of the country that rely more on irrigation for outdoor watering than in wetter areas that may rely on more rainfall, for example.
Based on data from the Water Research Foundation’s “Residential End Uses of Water, Version 2. 2016,” and the US Geological Survey’s “Estimated Water Use in the United States.”
What is your usage trend?
Is your bill able to explain your family’s consumption pattern? Some utilities provide graphs like the ones below, which indicate how your water usage has changed during the year and in past years. This can be a useful tool for determining when your own water use peaks.
While conserving water is important all year, the timing of water use can have a significant impact on community water supplies and your water bill. When it’s hot outside, WaterSense has some suggestions to help you save water.
Water utilities plan for higher summertime usage since they must be able to supply all of a community’s water needs over a long period of time. During the peak, some systems may be obliged to limit outdoor watering to ensure that water is available for more pressing community requirements.
How does your use compare to that of your neighbor?
Some utilities provide data on how your household stacks up against your neighbors’. This can help you assess how your water usage compares to other users in your climate zone and can be a useful tool for determining your “WaterSense.” Some utilities provide bills that match your usage to that of a random group of your neighbors, while others, like the one shown below, employ a “tiered system” to distinguish consumers.
How are you being charged?
Customers must pay for the construction and maintenance of infrastructure, which includes water storage tanks, treatment plants, and underground pipes that supply water to houses and businesses. The money is also used to pay the people who provide you with water service at all hours of the day and night. Customers are billed using a number of different rate systems, some of which are outlined here.
Rate Types
A flat fee is a rate structure in which all customers pay the same sum regardless of how much water they use. Flat fees are the most basic cost structure and are no longer widely used. They usually don’t generate enough cash to keep the utility running and aren’t very good at encouraging water conservation.
Uniform Rate is a year-round structure with a constant per-unit price for all metered units of water utilized. It varies from a flat price in that it necessitates the use of a meter. Some utilities charge various rates to distinct user categories, such as charging one fee to residential homes and another rate to industrial customers. Because the consumer bill varies with water usage, constant block rates provide some stability for utilities and encourage conservation.
