Boston-based NSTAR, Massachusetts’ largest combined utility, has asked state regulators to reduce its gas adjustment cost by 17% to 43.5 cents/therm effective Jan. 1, 2002. If approved, NSTAR’s gas adjustment cost will have dropped by 67.5 cents/therm for the year or by more than 60%.

The utility’s requested reduction would lower natural gas costs by about 9.1 cents/therm during the January through April 2002 period, NSTAR said. This would mean a savings of about $13.11/month for NSTAR customers who heat with natural gas, and a savings of $1.54/month for non-heating gas customers, it estimated.

In its filing to the Massachusetts Department of Telecommunications and Energy (DTE), NSTAR said the requested decrease was in response to lower natural gas prices. The utility said it anticipates its gas costs will fall by almost $15 million through the end of next April. NSTAR has asked the DTE for expedited approval of its filing so it can begin passing the savings on to its gas customers immediately.

The latest DTE filing marks the fourth time this year that NSTAR has cut its gas adjustment costs to pass along the lower gas costs to its customers, according to the utility. At the start of the year, NSTAR’s gas adjustment cost stood at $1.11/therm. The gas adjustment cost, which is directly passed through to customers, includes the cost of the gas commodity and the cost of delivery of the gas.

DTE already has approved a reduction for NSTAR in the default service price of electricity that is expected to save customers more than $11/month starting Jan. 1. The utility also has asked regulators to approve a cut in the Standard Offer Service price of electricity, which could save the average customer about $6/month effective Jan. 1. NSTAR serves about 1.3 million electric and natural gas customers throughout Massachusetts.

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