Your Bill

Current Rates:

We are proud to say that GFU customers receive natural gas and customer service from our staff at rates that are significantly less than the average natural gas customer in Texas, the USA or around the world. The GFU Board of Trustees and our staff takes pride in providing a competitively priced service to our customers in a professional, personalized way that is designed to fit your specific need as a business or homeowner. GFU is striving to provide new technology to allow us to be more responsive to our customers.

The need for rate adjustments:
GFU has grown rapidly due to explosive growth throughout our service area. In the next two to three years extensive highway widening and adjustments will require significant additions and upgrades of our system to meet the needs of our customers. GFU continuously upgrades our existing system to improve pressure and service for the future. The Board of Trustees has made small adjustments to our rates that will accomplish several goals over a long period of time:

  1. We will be able to improve our system and respond to projects that require us to move facilities along highway rights of way.
  2. The Utility and our customers will be protected from continued annual cost increases.
  3. The Utility and our customers will be protected from wild swings and variations in the weather which negatively impact both GFU and the customer because of similar wild variations in prices.

These changes, while very small in nature, assist GFU in continuing to provide the same superior service you have enjoyed since becoming our customer.
The changes are more thoroughly described below:

Cost of Gas Adjustment:
The cost of gas reflected in your bill changes from month to month because the price of natural gas on the open market where we buy it changes each month. Our current rates require that the actual cost of gas that the utility pays be passed directly through to our customers with small additional adjustments for accounting and measurement and measurement technology and acquisition of the gas commodity being added to that price on a per CCF basis. Natural gas today on the open market is priced significantly less than it was over the last 36 months and our customers benefit from the fact that GFU never gambles on gas pricing…the monthly price on the market is what you pay, plus the additions mentioned above.

CPI Adjustment:
Every year the cost of tools, equipment, personnel and maintenance rise. Typically GFU rates were not adjusted for annual increases. The Trustees requested and the City Council approved an annual CPI index adjustment to your base rate for natural gas service. The small adjustment will help us keep up with the rising cost of the services we provide.

Weather Normalization Adjustment:
A Weather Normalization Adjustment (WNA) is a mathematical formula which adjusts customers’ monthly bills from November through May (actual service from October through April) to reflect normal weather patterns based upon the 25 year average temperature for each billing period, lowering bills during periods of colder than normal weather and raising them during warmer than normal periods. There is either a positive or negative adjustment to your Grey Forest Utilities Gas bill for each winter month, depending upon how warm or cold the weather was compared to the normal temperature range during that billing period. Over time, the positive and negative adjustments should equal out.

Competitive Rate Adjustment:
The competitive rates for natural gas service that is provided to customers that have a ready alternative fuel capability are adjusted to be equal to or better than the rates offered by our competitor. Meanwhile, we strive to provide our services in a manner that assures you individualized attention to your needs.