Oklahoma Customers Could See Increase In Gas Bill Due To High Use, High Demand

Due to a combination of high use and high demand, you can expect your gas bill to be higher than normal this month. However, nothing on your bill is set in stone yet.

It all boils down to where you live and where you get your gas from.

In Tulsa, those price increases are controlled by the Oklahoma Corporation commission but that's not the case in smaller towns.

Oklahoma Corporation Commission Spokesman Matt Skinner breaks the increase down into two parts: how much gas we've used and how much that gas will cost.

"People need to brace for higher bills, your next bill will be higher," Skinner said. "Your bill is going to be higher because we used more energy."

Green Country used more gas because it took more energy to keep homes heated.

"The cost of natural gas itself, the cost of the fuel is a separate charge on your bill and cannot change from where it was last month. It cannot change without commission approval," Skinner said. "No one has filed for a change in that yet, we do expect those filings to come."

The price of the natural gas itself is a separate number used to calculate your bill. The issue is that in some areas, natural gas is in extremely high demand and the price fluctuates rapidly.

Grove, which buys from fewer suppliers compared to a bigger company, saw a one-day price spike of over 20,000 percent.

Skinner said that's just one example and usually companies do their best to even prices out.

"There's actually hundreds and hundreds of different prices that utilities use in their fuel purchasing to try to even out cost," Skinner said.

The corporation commission will decide whether it will allow companies to raise rates to make up for the higher cost of gas you could see on your next bill.

Skinner said the state law says that a utility can recover their fuel cost at no profit. He said the commission is there to make sure companies are not price gouging.