Are you a customer of Columbia Gas?
If so, you can take advantage of their Customer Choice Program RIGHT NOW and start enjoying the benefits of energy competition.
Click Here to get started.
Not in the Columbia service area, but want the benefits of competition? Contact your legislators and tell them to open all of Kentucky to competition! (Not sure who to contact? Click here to find out.)
KCEC Legislative Survey Results
Last fall, KCEC conducted our 2008 Legislative Survey on energy prices and natural gas choice programs. Click below for the original survey and complete results, recieved from 44 General Assembly members and candidates.
Op-ed: More choice could lower natural gas costs
The following op-ed appeared in the Lexington Herald-Leader on Monday, November 24.
On Oct. 30, Kentuckians woke up to a jarring headline in the Herald-Leader: "Natural gas bills to rise average of 17 percent this winter." This price hike is sure to strain family budgets, already hit hard by the economic crunch. After families have worked hard to cover obligations like mortgages and car payments, many are left with very little margin for error at the end of each month.
The retail price increases are the direct result of large jumps in the wholesale price of natural gas earlier this year, when the prices of all energy commodities reached record levels. During the summer, Kentucky's natural gas utilities purchased large quantities of gas and placed them into storage for use this winter. Purchased at high price points and stockpiled months ago, this gas will soon be used by the state's consumers, who will be paying the same high prices from the summer. By statute, natural gas utilities in Kentucky pass on their commodity costs directly to the consumer. The customer is stuck paying whatever price the utility has paid, with no opportunity to provide input, no advance notice and no choice.
