Kitchener Utilities natural gas rate falling to lowest level since 1998

Kitchener City Hall is pictured in a file photo. (Kevin Doerr / CTV Kitchener)

Kitchener Utilities is lowering its natural gas rates – and city officials say the new rate represents the lowest one in 17 years.

Starting Saturday, the utility’s rates will fall to 10.5 cents per cubic metre for natural gas supply and 7.15 cents per cubic metres for delivery (assuming less than 50,000 cubic metres consumed per year).

The transportation rate will be increased to four cents per cubic metre, but the City of Kitchener says the overall rate of about 21 cents per cubic metre will be the lowest offered since 1998.

For the average household, the new rates will mean a decrease of 18 per cent of natural gas costs, or about $160 per year.

“We are pleased to be able to deliver a rate reduction to our natural gas customers,” Wally Malcolm, the city’s director of utilities, said in a press release.

The new rates will be half of what they were in 2006, the city said.