A Word About Natural Gas Prices

We appreciate your understanding during the early months of 2023 as natural gas prices were high because of colder weather. For customers who may have fallen behind on their bill, we have assistance programs available, and we can get you into a payment plan to help you catch up.

We want to explain why the gas-cost portion of your bill has gone up and offer options to help you. The price of natural gas is up generally around the world, driven by supply-and-demand market factors. In fact, the cost of gas portion of residential customer bills was more than four times higher in January 2023 compared with January 2020.

Customers also may remember that in February 2021, there was a large one-week spike in natural gas prices because of extremely cold weather across the Southwest region. To keep our customers supplied, NMGC paid to purchase this expensive gas and later the company was authorized by the Public Regulation Commission to recover the extraordinary gas costs over 30 months, starting in July 2021. Until December 2023, a portion of your monthly bill includes recovery of these costs.

New Mexico Gas Company is not a natural gas exploration and production business. We purchase natural gas for our customers on the open market. It's important to know that, by rule, New Mexico Gas Company passes the cost of gas to our customers without markup. We don't make any profit on the gas we purchase for you. You pay what we pay.

Even with the increase in prices, natural gas remains cost-effective compared with most other energy sources. However, we recognize that higher gas prices are a challenge for many customers. We are committed to working with you, and we have assistance programs available.

• LIHEAP is a residential assistance program through the New Mexico Human Services Department that offers winter heating assistance for income-qualified customers: www.nmgco.com/en/low_income_assistance
• The Salvation Army administers NMGC’s HEAT New Mexico fund. It is available to help income-qualified residential customers pay their winter heating bills: www.nmgco.com/en/HEAT_For_Help
• The NM Home Fund offers rental, mortgage and utility assistance through the State of New Mexico: nmhomefund.org
• The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority administers Energy$mart, an energy efficiency program for income-qualified customers to help improve the energy efficiency of their homes and lower utility bills: www.housingnm.org/home-repair-and-energy-efficiency/energymart-weatherization-assistance

We also have a budget billing program, where your natural gas usage is averaged over 12 months so you pay the same amount each month all year long. This means your bills may be slightly higher than usual during the summer, when customers typically don't use as much gas, but it reduces the gas-cost portion of your bill during the winter heating season. For more information, click here.

To learn more about these programs or to arrange a payment plan, call us at 1-888-664-2726.