What is Virginia Natural Gas doing to minimize the impact of high prices?
Virginia Natural Gas continually works to identify opportunities to purchase reliable natural gas supplies and contracts at the lowest possible cost. We do that by closely monitoring natural gas prices and utilizing our expertise in natural gas storage and asset management.

We also continue to find ways to reduce our operating expenses to keep our base rates stable. Through a progressive asset management program, Virginia Natural Gas is paying out $7.5 million to customers through their monthly bill during 2008.  This is equal to about $29 per customer.

Finally, Virginia Natural Gas has not increased our base rates – the fixed cost to maintain a safe and reliable system – since 1996.

What can customers do to minimize the impact?
To minimize the impact of higher energy bills and to more effectively manage your overall budget you can:

• Weatherize your home to ensure your energy use is as efficient as possible.
• Upgrade to more energy efficient appliances.
  • Residential natural gas consumers already use 20 percent less gas per capita today than they did 20 years ago, primarily due to more efficient appliances, better insulation, and conservation.
• Enroll in budget billing programs that help you more effectively manage and budget your monthly expenditures.
• Take advantage of all federal, state and local energy assistance programs
• For those customers in a position to do so, donations can easily made to energy assistance programs by adding to your total monthly bill payment, to help those in need.
• Become a knowledgeable consumer about energy choices. Learn more about legislation being proposed and how it will impact you - congress.org and aga.org are both great sources of information.