Natural Gas Rates May Soon Be Going Up

Our natural gas bills may soon be going up. Cascade Natural Gas Corporation has
filed a request to increase rates by 19 percent for customers in Washington State
starting November 1st.  The request is filed with the Washington Utilities and
Transportation Commission.  If the rate increase is approved a residential customer
using 54 therms a month would see an increase of $101 a year.  A commercial
customer using 266 therms a month would see and increase of about $500 a year.
In a news release issued by the company, Cascade General Manager Scott Madison
says "the cost of gas, which includes pipeline, reservation and storage cost, is up
slightly over last year. However, overall cost remain lower than just three
years ago."

The cost of gas is the largest segment of a customer's bill and is passed directly to
the customer with no return to Cascade.