Natural Gas Products
Fixed Price Product
The fixed price product locks in the commodity rate and the interstate pipeline transportation rate and is available for up to a three-year term. This is an attractive product for customers that want the most predictability in their energy costs.
Market Based Product
The market-based product locks in the transportation rate for the term of the contract but “floats” with the monthly settlement commodity rate on the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). This settlement commodity rate is then added to the transportation rate to produce a variable monthly cost of gas rate. At any time during the term of the contract, the customer has the option to convert into a fixed price product. A market-based contract is advantageous when natural gas commodity prices are high, and expected to go down in the future.
Interruptible Transportation Service Product
Specific natural gas volumes are purchased and are combined with alternative fuel sources to satisfy load requirements. This product is for those customers that have the ability to burn fuels other than natural gas and can allow a customer greater flexibility to use the cheaper fuel. The utility, however, will force a customer to go on alternate fuels during extreme cold days so there is some unpredictability on natural gas availability in the winter months. In some cases a customer can avoid this by negotiating with the utility to guarantee a certain availability of service.