Snapshot: MXenergy’s one-year rate of $9.75/mcf among the cheapest in Dominion East Ohio market

In this volatile world of natural gas price ups and downs, a week can make a difference.

Just last week, I wrote about how many municipalities and area governments that had created aggregations, or buying groups to negotiate natural gas prices in bulk for residents, were locking in decent prices below the cheapest one-year fixed rates available to shoppers in the Dominion East Ohio territory.

The aggregation groups were getting rates of $9.24 per thousand cubic feet (mcf) to $9.90/mcf the majority of which were close to, but below the cheapest $9.95/mcf and $9.99/mcf fixed one-year rates that were the best deals in August, when I last did a comparison of prices. (You can find last week’s column online with this story if you missed it.)

Company executives I spoke with last week told me that while they were offering lower rates to aggregations because of group buying, they did not see their public prices coming down. A rate of $9.75/mcf from MXenergy last week was looking as if it would be the cheapest one-year fixed rate for the public.

But this week, Integrys Energy Services (formerly WPS Energy) changed the offer I planned to take a $9.99/mcf one-year fixed rate to $9.49/mcf with a $25 cancellation fee. That’s a savings of $50 over the year for the average household.

Many of you are on one of Integrys’ other rates. If you want the cheaper $9.49/mcf rate, you will have to call Integrys to request it. You will not be charged a fee to switch among the company’s rates. (Having to ask for a published lower rate is common among all the suppliers.)

So, if you had the $10.83/mcf Integrys capped rate, which changes monthly but won’t go above that cap, it renewed last month at $9.99/mcf for September and $9.75/mcf for October.

If you were on the $10.30/mcf fixed one-year rate or the $9.99/mcf one-year rate, unless you do something they both will renew at the end of this month for $9.99/mcf because those contracts expire next month. If you sign up for the cheaper rate, you’ll have one more month at your current rate and then switch to the lower rate.

The new $9.49/mcf rate starts with your November usage, which will show up on your December bill. If you’re a new customer who takes that rate, you’ll be placed on the company’s monthly variable rate its cheapest rate for one month until the November fixed rate kicks in.

Integrys Vice President Darrell Bragg said prices overall have softened in the last month, but it could be temporary.

‘‘The market has fallen pretty strongly and bottomed out, but it went back up, so it’s putting a strain on these prices a bit,’’ Bragg said.

Even the folks in Wadsworth, Orrville, Dover and Doylestown, who can take advantage of the $9.24/mcf fixed one-year aggregation rate with IGS Energy and no cancellation fee, may come out even if they switch to that rate instead of the $9.49/mcf from Integrys, which has a $25 cancellation fee.

Coincidentally, the 25 cent/mcf difference would save the typical household $25 over a year, so it’s pretty much a wash. But if you live in one of those communities and don’t have a cancellation fee with your current supplier or are at the end of your contract, then it would be worth it.

Similarly, if you have a supplier with a higher cancellation rate than $25, you have to crunch some numbers on how much you’ll save over a year with that fee to see if it’s worth switching (the average household uses 100 mcf per year).

Bragg said it’s possible Integrys may have to close the $9.49/mcf offer if market prices continue to rise, but he didn’t see another major drop to the prices of fixed rates even after hurricane season is over.

But he also quickly pointed out that he could be wrong because things can change quickly.

We’re past the peak of the June-through-November hurricane season without any major storms affecting production in the natural-gas rich Gulf of Mexico, said Jeff Murphy, director of pricing and regulatory affairs for Dominion East Ohio.

As always, weather remains the big question mark in pricing, Murphy said. While there is plenty of natural gas in storage now which could mean softening of prices if there’s a lack of hurricanes there’s also talk that if November and December bring normal, colder weather, that could deplete the storage and prices could spike, he said.

Last year, by comparison, there was high storage, lack of hurricanes and a warmer-than-usual November and December, which is why some prices softened in November and December.

So here’s the best advice: Find a price you’re comfortable with now, with a cancellation fee you’re willing to pay if prices go lower and you want to switch later. I know a lot of people like the stability of knowing a price before winter, so I wouldn’t recommend you wait it out, unless you’re the type who is willing to ride the market.

I don’t plan on doing any more comparisons for the winter months at this point, but I will always keep an eye on prices and let you know if they drop significantly.