More Businesses in Kentucky Will be Allowed to Shop for Natural Gas Supply

A recent order from the Kentucky PSC will allow more businesses to shop for natural gas supply at Louisville Gas & Electric, by lowering the threshold to take transportation service.

Specifically, the PSC, in a recent LG&E rate case, approved the reduction in the transportation threshold from 50,000 Mcf annually to 15,000 Mcf annually, as part of new transportation rider TS-2

According to a Constellation NewEnergy blog posting, companies and manufacturers that meet the new threshold typically spend $75,000 a year or more on natural gas

"Businesses such as large hotels, mid-sized manufacturers or industrial users that rely on natural gas to power operations and processes, as opposed to customers using gas primarily for heating, would most likely be eligible," Constellation said on its blog.

Customers wishing to take new Rider TS-2 must notify LG&E of any service class adjustments by March 31, 2013

Though the new 15,000 Mcf threshold is lower than that originally proposed by LG&E, it's still higher than the transportation threshold at other Kentucky utilities -- Duke Energy Kentucky's minimum requirement is 2,000 Mcf/year and Atmos Energy Corp. has a minimum requirement of 9,000 Mcf/year. Columbia Gas, of course, has a full fledged choice program.