THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 

                         THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
                 Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 9, 1994                    TAG: 9406090603 
SECTION: BUSINESS                     PAGE: I1    EDITION: FINAL  
SOURCE: Short 
DATELINE: 940609                                 LENGTH:

COMMONWEALTH GAS TO GIVE REFUNDS

{LEAD} Commonwealth Gas to give refunds: Commonwealth Gas Services said it is refunding $5.2 million to its customers in Virginia because of overpayments to its primary supplier, Columbia Gas Transmission Corp. The overpayments resulted from contracts in the 1980s requiring natural gas pipelines like Columbia Gas Transmission to pay certain charges to natural gas suppliers because they did not buy minimum quantities of the fuel. The refunds, to be spread over 12 months, will be applied as a credit to the purchased gas adjustment portion of a customer's monthly bill, Commonwealth said. For residential customers, the refund amounts to 30 cents per 1,000 cubic feet of gas.

{REST} In addition, Commonwealth said it reduced the purchased gas adjustment rate on June 1 by 27 cents because of lower projected gas costs this summer. The average monthly bill for a typical residential customer using 7,300 cubic feet of gas per month will drop to $55.40 from $59.57.

by CNB