With many concerned about the possibility of a drastic increase on their next utility bill, the primary natural gas provider in Kansas has released an update.

Kansas Gas Service says they have received many questions asking about rates increasing next month and the impact higher natural gas prices could have on your bill. There’s a lot of misinformation circulating out there, so we would like to provide facts and with what they know at this time.

They organization gathered the five most commonly asked questions and did their best to answer them.

Do I have to continue to conserve or are things back to normal?
Residential customers can return to normal natural gas usage.  Conservation efforts helped avoid widespread outages during the extreme weather event.

Will my bill be higher?
Your bill may be higher based on the amount of gas you used during the historic cold temperatures.

Your monthly bill is a combination of the amount of gas you use and the cost of gas. The extreme weather caused many customers to use more gas for heating their homes than they may have in prior years. The higher amount of gas used will be reflected on your bill, regardless of the price of gas. While we do not markup the price of natural gas, these events will have an impact on customer bills. If you conserved energy during the weather event, your bill will most likely be lower than it would have been otherwise.

How much will my bill increase?
Honestly, it’s too early to tell. At this time, we can’t quantify what the impact on customer bills will be. We experienced much higher natural gas demand which resulted in a significant increase in natural gas market prices on a portion of the supply we purchased during this period.

What are you doing to help reduce the impact to customer bills?
Unlike some other utilities, Kansas Gas Service has the ability to work with our regulators to spread these high gas costs out over several months.

The Kansas Corporation Commission has issued an order that authorizes natural gas and electric utilities to defer any extraordinary costs incurred associated with ensuring that customers continued to receive service during the cold weather event. KGS will make a filing with the KCC which includes a plan to minimize the financial impact of the cold weather event on customers over a reasonable period of time.

If you have concerns when you get your bill, they will work with you to help find options for payment. There are a number of payment options and resources they offer customers.

What can I do to minimize the impact to my bill?
One important thing you can do right now to minimize the amount of your bill is to follow the conservation tips that we’ve been communicating throughout this extreme winter event. Following the tips we listed in  this infographic can help you conserve in a number of different places around your home.

While these answers may not provide you with the level of details you’re looking for right now, you should know that payment options are available.

The Average Payment Plan helps reduce the fluctuations of your monthly gas bill and makes budgeting easier. The Average Payment Plan is based on a 12-month rolling average of your natural gas bill and is a way to reduce the volatility of seasonal energy expenses by spreading out the cost throughout the year.

You can enroll by logging into your account. If you don’t already have online account access, you can sign up today. It’s quick, easy and let’s you manage your account without having to call.

They also partner with financial assistance agencies throughout the communities they serve that manage funds for eligible customers that need help paying their utility bills. Visit kansasgasservice.com/cares for more details.