Natural gas and electric utility bills will decrease in the fourth quarter for Xcel Energy’s Colorado customers, assuming state regulators approve the combination utility’s proposed new rates, effective Oct. 1. Xcel asked the Colorado Public Utilities Commission (PUC) to OK monthly gas utility bills going down by an average of $6.15 for residential customers and $23.16 for small businesses. Commodity prices for the two customer groups will be 44.19 cents/therm and 43.84 cents/therm, respectively, compared to rates of 52.11 cents/therm and 52.33 cents/therm in 4Q2011. For electric customers, monthly bills are expected to drop for residential ($3.21) and small business ($26.79).

A mobile natural gas vehicle (NGV) fueling system developed with the help of the Gas Technology Institute (GTI) was previewed at both national political conventions with a dozen delegate-toting buses that operate on compressed natural gas (CNG) and use the mobile fast-fill fueling system called FuelMule. GTI has worked with Ultimate CNG to bring the technology to fruition. America’s Natural Gas Alliance provided the NGV shuttle buses deployed at the Republican Convention in Tampa, FL, and the Democratic Convention in Charlotte, NC. Local utilities in the respective convention cities — TECO Peoples Gas in Tampa and Piedmont Natural Gas Co. — worked with Ultimate CNG to provide the fuel.

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