Yes, I would just like to leave a little message for some of our local businesses. If you have articles for sale or repair services or apartments for rent and I take the time to call you and leave a message for you to return a call because I’m interested in whatever it is you have for sale or rent, please, please have the courtesy to return my phone call. I am so tired of trying to get a hold of some businesses that are advertising services and when you call them, you leave a message, two or three times, on different days and they never have the courtesy to call you back. Please, think of the people who are interested in whatever it is that you have to offer. It’s only common courtesy. Thank you.
Yes, I’m calling about the recent walk and run race Saturday. Somebody had called in the PulseLine and she was saying that she was there at the block party and people were bringing their dogs, large dogs, and all different kinds of dogs. I just wish when they’re having some kind of thing such as that. Nobody needs those dogs under feet and they’re maybe going to bite somebody or start another fight with another dog. So I don’t blame this woman for being upset about it. And if people had a little more brains they wouldn’t bring their animals to something like that. Same thing as when they had the fireworks at Stanley Park. They would bring them up there and they’d be all over the place. People – leave your dogs home! Let people enjoy the festivities and I think you’d be much happier, too.
Hi! I’m reviewing my Westfield Gas & Electric bill and I’m wondering how can the charges for transportation, two of those, Tier One and Tier Two, distribution and customer charge be more than the actual gas supply that I’ve used? Maybe the Westfield News could send that question to Dan Howard and he could reply in the PulseLine. I would appreciate it. Thank you. Bye. Thanks for the opportunity to answer your inquiry. WG&E has structured the rates it charges to its customers in accordance with standard industry practice and consistent with most other utilities regionally and nationwide. As you mentioned, customer rates include the cost of the energy supplied (electricity or natural gas supply charge)as well as the additional rate components that you spoke of put in place to recover the costs of the infrastructure, equipment and personnel required to safely and reliably deliver the energy to your home. These latter costs do not usually fluctuate significantly. As you might imagine, transporting natural gas through a network of pipes requires a tremendous investment, consisting of constant upgrades to facilities and information systems. It also allows and requires the WG&E to conform to the ever increasing regulatory requirements placed upon all utility providers. The gas supply portion of our customers’ bills has trended lower in recent years due in part to lower wholesale gas prices and, in recent years, has been the most volatile piece of the customer’s bill . Fortunately, newer drilling technologies have allowed producers to extract abundant natural gas shale supplies and subsequently increased the availability of natural gas nationally. However, one issue that has burdened many natural gas suppliers is that with the ample supply in the US there is insufficient pipeline infrastructure to bring the gas supply to New England. In addition, the costs assessed by suppliers to transport the gas into this region have significantly increased lately and all utilities in the region are feeling this pinch. We continue to keep a watchful eye on this supply and demand situation and have been able to absorb these costs through energy purchasing strategies to insulate our customers from such extreme price volatility. We make a conscious effort to control all of our costs so that we can continue to offer our customers low rates and high value. For instance, during 2012, our average gas customer paid 12.1 percent less than the Massachusetts state average and this has been a consistent trend over the past five years. – Dan Howard, General Manager, Westfield Gas & Electric
