February 9, 2006 - Austin, Texas - Texas Gas Service residential customers in Austin will pay 15 percent less for natural gas in February than they did in January, as a result of warmer temperatures and reduced demand across the country. The cost of gas for February will be $.89678 per Ccf (hundred cubic feet of gas), down from January's $1.03366 per Ccf , a 15 percent decrease. The average central Texas residential customer bill will be approximately $75 for February 2006.
Greg Phillips, vice president for Texas Gas Service's Eastern Region, encourages customers to continue conserving. "While we have had a mild winter in Austin, many customers are still using gas on these chilly mornings. We encourage our customers to conserve gas and to enroll in our levelized billing plan. Customers on the ABC Plan pay the same amount each month. Our ABC Plan is the first step to managing volatile gas costs this winter."
Texas Gas Service does not profit from the higher commodity costs. The company charges its customers the same price it pays for natural gas, making the cost of gas a true "pass-through" cost. Texas Gas Service changes the cost of gas factor each month, to reflect current market conditions.
Texas Gas Service created the ABC Plan to help customers budget for their natural gas payments throughout the year. The initial ABC payment is calculated by averaging the customer's gas bill over the last twelve months. Then twice a year, Texas Gas Service compares the payment to the actual usage, and makes an adjustment upward or downward. Texas Gas Service strongly recommends that its customers join the Average Bill Calculation (ABC) plan because the Plan makes the billing predictable and easy on the customers' budget. Customers should call (800) 700-2443.
Texas Gas Service provides natural gas service to approximately 565,000 customers in the state of Texas, including customers in Austin, El Paso, the Gulf Coast and the Rio Grande Valley. Texas Gas Service is a division of Tulsa-based ONEOK, Inc., (NYSE: OKE), a diversified energy company and a leader in the gathering, processing, storage and transportation of natural gas in the mid-continent region of the U.S. ONEOK owns one of the nation's premier natural gas liquids (NGL) systems, connecting much of the NGL supply in the mid-continent with two key market centers. Its energy services operation focuses primarily on marketing natural gas and related services throughout the U.S. ONEOK is the majority general partner of Northern Border Partners L.P. (NYSE: NBP), one of the largest publicly-traded limited partnerships. ONEOK is a Fortune 500 company.
For information about ONEOK, Inc. visit the Web site: www.oneok.com.