Amid spiking natural gas prices, the Long Beach Utilities Commission is holding a special meeting Thursday to discuss the causes and effects of the price increases that have led to expensive monthly bills for its customers.
The commission is meeting Thursday, Jan. 12, at the Utilities Department headquarters in East Long Beach where commissioners are expected to receive an update on natural gas prices, which have more than doubled since December.
Customers have reported increases to their monthly utility bills, in some cases spiking by hundreds of dollars, and the department said those figures could get worse with the new January pricing for natural gas ($3.81 per therm) being dramatically higher than the December price ($1.42 per therm) that led to those large bills.
In a statement last week, the department said that it anticipates that the average single-family household could see an increase of $200 or more on their next bill.
The department has attributed the rising prices for natural gas to a multitude of issues that are affecting suppliers across the western United States. They include a colder-than-normal winter, the ongoing drought’s effect on hydroelectricity production and the move by natural gas producers to export some of their supply to Europe, which has seen its supply affected by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Because of a recent merger of the city’s water, sewer and natural gas utilities, the commission is now in charge of setting rates for natural gas, something it previously only did for water and sewer rates in the city.
The special meeting is scheduled for 9 a.m. at the Long Beach Utilities Department headquarters located at 1800 E. Wardlow Road.
Long Beach utility bills are going up due to colder weather, natural gas exports