(Radio Iowa) – MidAmerican Energy plans to ask state regulators for an increase in its natural gas delivery rates for the more than 600-thousand customers in Iowa. MidAmerican spokesperson, Tina Hoffman, says this is the portion of your bill that is set and covers the cost of the infrastructure to pipe in the natural gas. “It will be the first time that we’ve requested a gas rate increase since 2002. So we’ve been maintaining and upgrading our system for more than 20 years and keeping those costs the same for customers,” Hoffman says.

Hoffman says there have been changes in delivery area and security issues that are addressed in the increase. “Our customer base has grown, you think about the communities around the state that have grown, that requires new infrastructure, upgrades to infrastructure, and cybersecurity and physical threats to the gas delivery system are different than they were 20 years ago,” she says. The other portion of your gas bill is the cost of the gas that is delivered to your home or business.

“For the last few years, that cost of gas has been pretty high. Fortunately, the prices of gas are coming down pretty significantly for a while,” She says. “So that will really lessen the impact of the delivery rate increase. And even with the small increase to our delivery rates, gas bills, year over year are expected to be lower than they were in 2022 overall.” MidAmerican estimates the average residential customer would see a monthly gas bill increase of less than five dollars, or 60 dollars per year.

Hoffman says there will be an interim increase of five percent until the Iowa Utilities Board rules on the permanent six percent increase. “Around the end of June, that interim rate would go into effect. And then if the Utilities Board makes a different decision, those rates, the you know the difference in that would be refunded to customers,” Hoffman says. The I-U-B will seek comments from customers and interested parties and make a final determination on the proposed rate increase in May of next year.

Public meetings on the topic are scheduled across MidAmerican’s Iowa service area at the dates, times and locations below:
Sioux City – 6 p.m. Monday, July 24, 2023, Sioux City Convention Center, 801 Fourth St.
Waterloo – 6 p.m. Wednesday, July 26, 2023, Majestic Moon, 1955 Locke Ave.
Des Moines – 6 p.m. Thursday, July 27, 2023, Holiday Inn Des Moines-Airport Conference Center, 6111 Fleur Drive.
Davenport – 6 p.m. Monday, July 31, 2023, The River Center, 136 E. Third St.
Cedar Rapids – 6 p.m. Tuesday, August 1, 2023, The Olympic South Side Theater, 1202 Third St. S.E., Suite 200.

Virtual – 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., Thursday, August 3, 2023.

Details about participating online and at the customer comment meetings are available on the IUB’s website, iub.iowa.gov.