City Works to Mitigate Financial Impact on Residential Gas Customers

CORPUS CHRISTI, TX – The extreme weather event that occurred in February will have an impact on utility bills for the City of Corpus Christi’s gas customers. From February 12^th to February 19^th, the cost of gas jumped from an average monthly price of $4.09 per one thousand cubic feet (mcf) the week prior to over $100 per mcf for several days. To put this into perspective, this price increase led our customers’ cost for gas to surge from slightly over $1 million in January to a nearly $40 million debt in February. Without intervention, this surge in gas costs could have caused the average residential customer’s gas bill during this extreme cold weather event to reach an estimated $600 as compared to nearly $30 during routine weather.

The City’s Gas Ordinance requires that all costs borne by gas operations be recouped by the City. City Council action will smooth the financial burden from the February surge in gas prices. Today, City Council approved staff to finalize a financial plan to borrow funds needed to pay the debt to the City’s gas supplier. The funds also will allow the customer gas debt to be addressed over the span of seven to ten years. To assist gas customers with paying the debt over this timeframe, City Council also approved other mitigation measures.

These measures include adjusting the minimum billing charge and the cost of gas used per mcf. Starting June 1, 2021, the following gas rate changes will go into effect:

Current Rates                                                                        New Rates

• Minimum Charge- $11.65 per month                         Minimum Charge- $18.60 per month
• Volume Charges per mcf (block rates)                      Volume Charges per mcf (single rate)
• First 1 mcf- $0                                                            First 2 mcf - $0.00
• Next 2 mcf- $5.81                                                       3 MCF and above - $2.25 per mcf

Average residential customers use 1 to 2 mcf monthly. These customers will see their monthly gas bill increase from $26.86 to $28.00 after June 1^st.  

Even with the efforts made by the City to drastically reduce excessive costs to its customers, higher than normal gas bills should be expected. Customers having difficulty paying their gas utility bills are encouraged to contact the City’s Utility Billing Office at 826-CITY (2489) for information on payment plans and financial assistance programs.