Due to cold weather and high demand, our natural gas supplier has issued “Transport Critical Days,” which will likely continue through the end of January. This means that all natural gas purchased during this time will cost significantly more than usual.
While Transport Critical Days are widespread and we cannot change them, we can help mitigate their impact by conserving gas while costs are high. If you are able, please join us in reducing natural gas use until Transport Critical Days are over.
Read through the FAQ below to learn more about Transport Critical Days and their impact.
What are “Transport Critical Days”?
Natural gas suppliers issue Transport Critical Days when demand is at extreme highs, typically in January or February. This happens when end-users are consuming natural gas at a rate that is not sustainable for the pipelines and/or stores that supply the fuel throughout a region. Natural gas becomes significantly more expensive during these times, because it may come from other sources or dip into reserves.
How will this impact me?
As a not-for-profit cooperative, our rates reflect the costs we pay for the services we provide you. This means that we never charge extra to make more profit, but it also means that when our costs increase, our members’ costs increase too.
Due to our supplier’s timing, these increased Transport Critical Day costs will likely be reflected on your March bill. We will not know the financial impact on our members until we receive our bill from our supplier, which will be after our February billing cycles have already begun.
We will divide the additional charges based on use, so that no members pay more than their fair share. We will publish more information and billing date confirmation after we receive our bill.
Why do members have to pay these added costs?
As a not-for-profit cooperative, our rates reflect the costs we pay for the services we provide. This means that we never charge extra to make profits, but it also means that when our costs increase it increases our members’ costs too. We call these “pass-through” costs, because they do not originate with Consolidated and we do not add onto them; we pass them through from suppliers.
Is this normal?
Transport Critical Days occur almost every year with varied impact. The extended cold and extreme weather will likely lead them to have a more noticeable impact this year.
What can Consolidated and its members do about this?
The best way to mitigate their impact is to use less natural gas while they are in effect, so we purchase less gas at the elevated rates.
There are two options that can help some natural gas providers lower the risk of supply challenges and Transport Critical Days; we have explored both thoroughly throughout the years of our natural gas service, but unfortunately, neither is possible for us.
- The first option is to purchase additional storage, but there are no viable storage options available to us at this time.
- The second is to buy “firm capacity,” which gives certain providers the first right to gas. There is no “firm capacity” available for our supply, and even if there were, it would cost us about $100,000 per year to maintain that status. This charge would have to be passed through to our members, and the reduction in price would not be enough to offset the cost.
We understand that this is challenging, and we know that providing a warning ahead of time does not make the challenge go away. We will continue watching for opportunities to reduce the risk of Transport Critical Days, but for now, our best option is to work together and reduce their impact through conservation.
