State owned stations price raised to $1.17

[CNG Utah]

I just got my Fuelman bill for January and I noticed that sometime between Jan 2nd and 9th the price jumped to $1.17 from 81¢.

My bill only had fill-ups at the Lindon Alpine School District station and the Logan USU station. Can anyone confirm that the price has raised at the other State-owned pumps as well? Does anyone have any explanation for the price increase?

[CNGLO]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

I filled up at Jordan District on January 9. My price was $1.1753681, including the 3% service fee. You'd think we were in Oklahoma or something.

[CNGLO]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

It looks like the state-owned stations and have starting to charge the first phase of the increase ordered by the PSC. If so, they have jumped the gun while the PSC is still deciding whether to grant a reconsideration. I think the state stations also increased their prices last Fall ahead of Questar pump price increases.

[Highmarker]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the State is not controlled by the PSC on the price at their CNG stations.

[CNG Utah]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

It looks like the state-owned stations and have starting to charge the first phase of the increase ordered by the PSC. If so, they have jumped the gun while the PSC is still deciding whether to grant a reconsideration. I think the state stations also increased their prices last Fall ahead of Questar pump price increases.

I was thinking the same thing. I sent an email to [email protected] and [email protected] asking for some clarification. I'll post their reply when I get one.

[CNG Utah]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

Quick Reply:

Good afternoon Derek,

The State of Utah is required by law to price the fuel according to the approved Legislative rate.

Here's how the process works....
We get billed from Questar in Decatherms. We convert the Decatherms to Gasoline Gallons Equivalent (GGE). Depending on how much Natural Gas is used at each site will depend on what we are charged by Questar. And then we price the fuel with the approved set rate by legislation so we can try and recover the maintenance cost of each site.

Please feel free to give me a call if you have any other questions.

Regards,

Jeff Done
State of Utah
Fuel Dispensing Manager
Office (801) 538-3695
Cell (801) 712-1047
[email protected]

So my question is, why has the price raised if the PSC legislation hasn't yet passed?

[bruin]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

Should we be surprised at this? Glad to have the information so I can stop visiting the State pumps except in dire emergency. I imagine this might help explain why the last time I passed by the Orem station that I was greeted by the longest line I have seen in the last couple of months.

That note from the state rep. sounds like simply a lock-step response to the PSC ruling which ( last I heard) has not been rescinded but to which Questar stated they could not comply. The PSC has not responded to the requested suspension of the order either. It sure would be nice if we could get Gov. Huntsman to line us up more real support in State Government like at the PSC, UDOT, etc. I will take my own part of the blame for failing to send a note of my personal displeasure about all of this to my own State reps. in the Legislature. I intend to do so by the end of the week. What more can we do?

[John Mitton]

PSC irrelevant for state-owned stations

Gang,
The state-operated stations cost of service and pricing to us are not affected by PSC rulings in Questar's NGV rates. The PSC NGV rate fiasco is over what Questar charges the NGV owner when Questar compresses and dispenses, which according to testimony in the PSC rate case should be at $1.44 per gge today if Questar were to simply break-even.

The State buys its gas from Questar at the same F1 commercial customer rate as, for example, Diamond Parking or any other entity who compresses CNG into its fleet. The State has agreed under last year's House Bill 103 to sell this compressed gas to the public and can charge whatever they like; this is an unregulated activity as far as the PSC goes.

Before HB 103 the State had mothballed most of the stations. Getting them back up and running has no doubt cost them a tidy sum. Let's not be too hard on Jeff and his staff for needing to recover these startup costs. $1.17 is still likely below the State's cost of providing the service to us.

[Beej]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

I emailed Jeff and got some other good info. While the price at the state pumps is not subject to PSC regulations, it isn't something they can capriciously set at whatever they please. Since it's a state agency it is regulated by the Legislature. When they first opened the pumps they just matched the PSC rate. After looking at the numbers they decided to increase it to the amount approved by the Legislature so they no longer are operating at a net loss. He is confident that when our prices increase at the public pumps the state pumps will be able to stay low.

I have found the state pumps to be much more reliable than the public stations and am willing to pay a little more for that. What I don't like is sticker shock when I open my bill. I asked him how we can know beforehand what we are being charged but for now they are not set up for that. The sticker shock will remain.

I still applaud the state for it's efforts in encouraging the use of NGVs, even if I did pay a little more last month than I would have using public stations.

[kirby_kennedy]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

Should we be surprised at this? Glad to have the information so I can stop visiting the State pumps except in dire emergency. I imagine this might help explain why the last time I passed by the Orem station that I was greeted by the longest line I have seen in the last couple of months.

That note from the state rep. sounds like simply a lock-step response to the PSC ruling which ( last I heard) has not been rescinded but to which Questar stated they could not comply. The PSC has not responded to the requested suspension of the order either. It sure would be nice if we could get Gov. Huntsman to line us up more real support in State Government like at the PSC, UDOT, etc. I will take my own part of the blame for failing to send a note of my personal displeasure about all of this to my own State reps. in the Legislature. I intend to do so by the end of the week. What more can we do?

Let's not be too hard on Jeff and his staff for needing to recover these startup costs. $1.17 is still likely below the State's cost of providing the service to us.

I agree! Let's be grateful and support the state pumps. Could I suggest that when Questar raises their price, we should all flock to the state pumps as a form of protest.

Everyone: Is there a state legislator and senator out there that are friendly to our cause? I suggest we get legislation enacted that directs the PSC to (1) define NGV use and electricity storage/use in hybrid vehicles as a "traditional use"; 2) Use Wexpro and/or residential pricing of the commodity costs in NGV's and hybrids; 3) require any utility (i.e. Questar) to pass on any Federal and State tax credits for the use of natural gas and electricity as a vehicle fuel to the consumer in the pump price and itemize this in their calculations to the PSC; 4) require any utility (i.e. Questar) to pass on and include any Federal and State tax credits or GRANTS they receive for installation of NGV pumping equipment and facilities into the reduction of their costs for dispensing CNG to the end user, and itemize this in their calculations to the PSC; 5) allow any utility (i.e. Questar) to pass on and include actual costs, after reducing those costs for any depreciation taken on tax returns for purchase and installation of NGV pumping equipment and facilities, and maintenance of NGV pumping equipment and facilities to the end user, and itemize this in their calculations to the PSC; 6) directs the state dept. over clean fuel plates to register and issue a clean fuel plate allowing use of the HOV lane by single occupant vehicles upon the request of a taxpayer if it can be demonstrated that the registered vehicle is a hybrid; electric vehicle; bi-fuel NGV or LPG vehicle; dual-fuel NGV or LPG vehicle; and/or a dedicated NGV or LPG vehicle irrespective of an ILEV standard or conversion certification of the EPA.

What does everyone think?
p.s. the reason I included electricity/hybrids in this is to enlist any allies & additional support we can get.

[Atlasrider]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

Like a lot of folks that use the Fuelman Gascard I was a little shocked when I got my last bill and saw they increased the price without notice. I use the pumps at the Jordan school district almost exclusively since its only a few miles from my house. I also like how reliable the station is. After reading some of the other responses I have to agree that we should continue to support them. Hopefully the price will be stabile or drop a little as usage increases and the price of oil goes up. However I did enjoy filling up in Park City yesterday at .89 cents. I get the best fills at that station, must be the altitude.

[CNG Utah]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

Just got the new Fuelman bill today, and the price raised again. Now the state owned pumps are charging $1.25 per gge after taxes and the 3% service fee. The questar pumps dropped to 69¢ today, so while I'm very happy that the state pumps are open, I'll only be using them to top off or when it's much more convenient.

[happily]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

State owned pumps have always been a little higher but I get between 4.5 and 5 gals at their pump and 3-3.3 gals at others so filling up less and not driving the last 20 miles of my commute on gasoline more than makes up the .65 cents extra per fill.

[Beej]

Re: State owned stations price raised to $1.17

I agree 100% on the better fills. Now with the commercial stations going up in price this week, and some more in the coming months, the price disparity is narrowing.