If you live in Columbia Gas of Ohio’s service territory, Columbia Gas delivers natural gas to your home, even if you buy your gas from an alternative natural gas supplier and not from the utility. And even if you buy your gas from a third-party supplier, Columbia Gas is responsible for maintaining all the equipment it takes to deliver natural gas to your home and responding to service interruptions, including leaks and broken pipes.

As a result, your monthly Columbia Gas of Ohio bill is composed of two main parts: the supply charge, or what you pay for the natural gas that you use, and the distribution rate, or the amount Columbia Gas charges to deliver the gas to your home.

The supply charge is based on how much you pay per unit for natural gas (expressed by COH as CCF), which is determined by the plan you have with Columbia Gas or an alternative natural gas supplier that you’ve chosen to buy your gas from. The supply charge makes up about 75 to 80 percent of your bill.

On the other hand, the distribution rate on your bill is a flat fee, set and regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), that allows Columbia Gas and other natural gas utilities to pay for all the things they must do to deliver gas to their customers, including installing and maintaining pipelines, reading meters, processing bills and responding to service calls. The distribution rate is fixed and does not change based on how much natural gas you use. Regardless of who you choose to buy your natural gas from, you will always be charged this distribution rate.

Sources

Public Utilities Commission of Ohio, “Columbia Gas of Ohio’s Distribution Rate.”