Frontier Natural Gas
Annual Review of Gas Costs
Docket No. G-40 Sub 171
Public Witness Hearing - Tuesday, March 7, 2023, 10:00 a.m.
Expert Witness Hearing – Tuesday, March 14, 2023, 2:00 p.m.
Commission Hearing Room 2115
Dobbs Building, 430 North Salisbury, Raleigh
Frontier Natural Gas Company, LLC (Frontier), is a subsidiary of Gas Natural Inc., and is headquartered in Elkin, North Carolina. The Frontier natural gas system is physically comprised of about 139 miles of transmission line that take gas off the Transco pipeline in two spots, one located in Warren County and the other located in Rowan County.
Frontier is a local distribution company that transports and sells natural gas in Yadkin, Surry, Wilkes, Warren, Watauga and Ashe Counties. Frontier serves about 4,137 customers in and near Wilkesboro, North Wilkesboro, Elkin, Dobson, Mt. Airy, Yadkinville, Hays, Roaring River, Manson, Warrenton, Norlina, Boone, Jefferson, and West Jefferson.
Under State law [G.S. 62-133], natural gas local distribution companies earn a return on the investments they have made in their distribution networks in order to serve customers. They are also allowed to charge customers (without adding a margin or earning a return) for their prudently incurred expenses, including the wholesale cost of natural gas and pipeline transportation charges.
State Law G.S. 62-133.4(c) requires each gas distribution company to file annually with the Commission information that lets the Commission compare its wholesale gas and gas transportation costs with the gas revenues that it has collected from its customers during the 12-month period. The Commission decides whether the gas distributor was prudent as it incurred its gas costs. If prudently incurred gas costs are greater or less than the collected gas revenues, the Commission can order changes to customer rates.
Commission Rule R1-17(k)(6)(a) requires Frontier to file each year information showing the Company’s actual gas costs for the year ending September 30, the amount of gas it purchased, the amount of gas it sold, and other information, along with expert witness testimony. Frontier filed the required information on December 1, 2022.
The Public Staff of the North Carolina Utilities Commission is investigating this matter on behalf of the using and consuming public.
The Commission is holding a public witness hearing 10:00 a.m. on March 7, 2023, to receive public witness testimony on this matter. People who simply want to observe the hearing may do so via the YouTube link on this website.
Documents related to this matter can be found here.
Information about how to testify at a public hearing can be found here.
You can file a comment about this matter here. In addition, you can mail a statement to the Commission at the address below. In either case, be sure to put the docket number in the subject line. After two or three business days public statements are made part of the official record and can be viewed on this website.
The Commission has scheduled an expert witness hearing for 2:00 p.m. on March 14, 2023. This hearing is for the purpose of hearing testimony from expert witnesses, including Frontier Natural Gas and the Public Staff. There will not be an opportunity for citizen testimony at this hearing, but members of the public may watch the hearing via YouTube from a link that will be available on this website the day of the hearing. This hearing will be held in Commission Hearing Room 2115, Dobbs Building, 430 North Salisbury Street, Raleigh.
Weapons are strictly prohibited at Commission hearings, and everyone entering the building must pass through a metal detector.