MidAmerican Energy Wants to Raise Natural Gas Rates for Iowa Customers

Stop me if you've heard this one before. An energy company in Iowa wants to raise your monthly bill. MidAmerican Energy is the culprit this time, but just how much would your bill go up?

MidAmerican Proposes Rate Hike

The Des Moines Register reports that MidAmerican Energy wants to raise natural gas bills by around 5%. The rate hike would affect some 638,000 Iowans and would reportedly support the "infrastructure and operations needed to move natural gas to homes and businesses." Officials say that the price hike has nothing to do with the price of gas.

How Much Would This Affect My Bill?

The Register reports that a typical MidAmerican monthly bill would increase by $2.89 to around $58.49. While the rate increase still needs the approval of the Iowa Utilities Commission, MidAmerican is going ahead and implementing a temporary rate increase as of July 17th, while the commission considers the request, according to the Register. If the commission lowers the temporary increase, MidAmerican says it will refund customers the difference plus interest.

Even With Rate Hike, Bills Remain Historically Low

Even with the proposed increase, MidAmerican says the typical residential gas bill will stay lower than it was two decades ago, according to the Register. MidAmerican will hold several public meetings on the proposed rate increase during the month of September.