Austin fights against rate increase proposed by Texas Gas Service

AUSTIN, Texas - The City of Austin is a part of more than a dozen cities fighting against a rate increase proposed by Texas Gas Service.

Residents were able to express their view on the proposal during a public hearing at the City Council meeting on Thursday.

"Let me begin by stating how outrageous the rate increase is. If the gas company wins its proposal, it would increase residential rates by 105 percent since 2019. This will be over $300 per year per residential customer," said a resident.

Residents faced city council members on Thursday afternoon with data to back their concerns about a rate increase proposed by Texas Gas Service.

"Not only are the rates too high, but they are poorly structured. They are regressive. The more you use, the less you pay per unit. This discourages energy conservation, and it hurts the poor who generally use less energy," says a resident.

The average household should expect their bill to go up about 14% and while residential rates could go up, commercial rates could go down anywhere from 2% to 6%.

"In the case of TGS, new growth across Texas has caused existing customer gas rates to increase, which explains a lot about why gas rates have doubled in the last five years. It seems the city needs to get serious about studying a way out of this situation with the franchise renewal coming up," says a resident.

The city of Austin is 1 of 17 cities in a coalition served by the Texas Gas Service, fighting against the rate increase.

"This is the motion that I posted on the message board and, as I mentioned there, I do not believe, and I cannot support the settlement that has been put forward and so what this amendment does is remove the cities' affirmation of that settlement," says Council member Ryan Alter, District 5.

"For clarity purposes and for the public, if this amendment goes on, what the city council would be doing is technically denying the application of Texas gas service and taking no position with regard to the settlement proposal because of the amendment," says City of Austin Mayor Kirk Watson.

Austin City Council is still considering the gas rate proposal.

The Texas Gas Service released a statement:

"At Texas Gas Service, our top priority is maintaining a safe and reliable natural gas system for our customers. This requires upfront investments in the maintenance and operations of our natural gas system. Our rate adjustments reflect the actual costs of maintaining and improving our infrastructure, including safety, reliability and efficiency investments. The regulatory process allows Texas Gas Service to recoup an allowed portion of that investment and to continue providing the service Austinites have been able to depend on.

We are here to help and work with all our customers who face financial hardship. We encourage our customers to reach out when they need assistance, and we will work with them to find a solution. Financial assistance resources can also be found on our website at texasgasservice.com/cares. 

We’ve heard our customers’ sentiments towards our rates and overall satisfaction through survey questionnaire data in 2024. Customers residing in Williamson, Hays, and Travis counties specifically said:

• Over 64% of respondents indicated high trust in their utility to set fair and reasonable rates.
• 90% of responses indicated positive overall satisfaction."