The following is a news release from Lower Valley Energy – 

Effective March 1, Lower Valley Energy will raise gas rates by $0.1861/therm (approximately 15%). The exceedingly volatile market this winter, especially in January, has put tremendous pressure on our pricing.
The average January price for wholesale gas in the Rocky Mountain region for the last 5 years was $4.29/MMBtu – this January, due to a variety of factors including cold temperatures across the region and pipeline constraints, prices hit an all-time record of $49.57/MMBtu.

The extremely cold temperatures caused a domino effect which resulted in record usage at Lower Valley Energy, and subsequently purchasing some of the more expensive market gas to meet local needs.  We do our best to provide our members with the best value, but the volatile spike in prices also unfortunately coincided with the expiration of a $0.14 discount of built-up reserves.

To help mitigate the full impact of the rate increase our board wrote off gas margins by $600,000. In addition, our gas hedging program saved members an additional $5,000,000. This rate increase goes entirely towards commodity prices, none of which is
retained by your cooperative.  Even after this rate increase, natural gas remains highly competitive with local
alternative fuel sources.

We do not take rate increases lightly, and as your energy provider, we want you to know that we are doing everything we can to keep your rates as low as possible. We work hard to keep rates low through these difficult times but the unprecedented increase in commodity prices left us no alternative but to raise gas rates.

If you have any questions, please call us at 307-885-3175 or email us at  csr@lvenergy.com . Thank you for allowing us to be your local energy solutions provider. We value our relationship with each member-owner and will continue to provide the best service at the best price.