NW Natural's Annual Purchased Gas Adjustment Approved

PORTLAND, OR--(Marketwired - Oct 30, 2013) - Northwest Natural Gas Company, dba NW Natural (NYSE: NWN), today announced that the Washington Utilities and Transportation Commission (WUTC) approved a small rate increase for NW Natural gas customers. This is the first time that the cost of gas has increased in five years.

Starting Nov. 1, Washington residential rates will increase by about 1.5 percent. A residential customer using 56 therms a month will see an average monthly bill increase of about $0.91; of that amount, one percent or $0.58 cents per month will fund energy-efficiency programs offered through Energy Trust.

The increase for the average Washington commercial customer that uses 255 therms per month will be about 1.6 percent, or about $3.98 per month; of that amount, 0.9 percent or $2.32 per month will fund energy-efficiency programs offered through Energy Trust.

"The market looks fairly stable going forward. At this point, we expect minor year-to-year adjustments in natural gas prices but no major swings for the immediate future," said Randy Friedman, NW Natural director of gas supply.

Each year, NW Natural and other local gas utilities adjust their rates to reflect changes in wholesale natural gas prices, plus some annual adjustments based on ongoing agreements with the WUTC.

The new rates reflect gas purchases for the year beginning Nov. 1. Customers will see the change on their bills starting in November.

About NW Natural
NW Natural (NYSE: NWN) is headquartered in Portland, Ore., and provides natural gas service to about 689,000 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in Oregon and Southwest Washington. It is the largest independent natural gas utility in the Pacific Northwest. Additional information is available at www.nwnatural.com.