Oklahoma Natural Gas customers to see higher monthly charges

The settlement now goes to the three-person regulatory panel for their final approval.

Residential ONG customers will see their monthly charges rise by 96 cents, or almost $12 per year. But separate reductions in the fuel-cost portion of customer bills from lower natural gas prices mean most customer bills will go down. Fuel costs are passed directly through to customers and vary based on the price of the commodity.

The base-rate increase will not affect low-income residential customers, whose monthly charges will stay the same under the settlement.

ONG in March asked for a $16.2 millionincrease in rates to help pay for $93 millionin infrastructure improvements for pipeline safety and reliability. The company worked out a settlement for $9.5 million with commission staff, the attorney general's office and a group representing industrial consumers.

Under the settlement, small commercial and industrial customers will see monthly charges increase by 16 cents.Large commercial and industrial customers will see a decrease of 85 centsper month.