In addition to possible increases on electric and water bills, Denton residents will also see their gas bills increase starting Oct. 1.
The Denton City Council unanimously approved, 6-0, on Tuesday to accept a rate-increase settlement with Atmos Energy.
Based on the average ratepayer鈥檚 bill, the rate increases will be an additional $13.37 per month 鈥� a 14.15% increase 鈥� for the residential customer and $44.82 鈥� a 9.9% increase 鈥� for commercial customers in Denton.
The rate increases are systemwide.
They were the result of a settlement between Atmos Energy and the Atmos Cities Steering Committee (ACSC), a 181-member coalition of cities that represents more than a million customers, after Atmos sought a $291 million systemwide increase based on Atmos鈥� 2025 cost of service study.
ACSC and Atmos settled on $260.5 million and saved about $30.6 million for member cities, Matt Hamilton, the city鈥檚 chief financial officer, told the council on Tuesday.
The rate increases go into effect on Oct. 1 for Denton ratepayers.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a 鈥� that鈥檚 a large increase,鈥� Mayor Chris Watts told staff. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 a large increase.鈥�
Council member George Ferrie agreed, calling the increase 鈥渋ncredibly high for gas.鈥�
The council, however, didn鈥檛 have much of a choice but to accept the settlement or risk incurring legal fees over the dispute and possibly incurring higher rates otherwise, Hamilton said. The city would be essentially removing itself from the settlement.
Hamilton told council members that if they denied it, Atmos would appeal to the Texas Railroad Commission with a low chance of the city prevailing.
Watts asked Hamilton if removing the city from the settlement would potentially impact rates.
鈥淚 just want to make sure that the community understands the implication of that,鈥� Watts said. 鈥淭hat it could put us in a worse position.鈥�
Hamilton agreed.
