A typical residential gas bill from UGI Utilities in Pennsylvania moved from $113.76 to $117.69 a month on October 1, 2026, the first of two steps in a rate increase the state’s utility regulator approved that day. The monthly figures are the commission’s own, built on a stated level of household gas use. A second step a year later pushes the same bill higher again, and the fixed charge on every account rises with it.
The $117.69 bill and the usage behind it
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission said in its October 1 press release that the average monthly bill for a residential customer using 68.8 Ccf of gas per month rises by a total of $6.45, or 5.7 percent, across two phases. Phase 1 took effect October 1, 2026, and lifts that typical bill from $113.76 to $117.69, an increase of $3.93. Phase 2 follows on October 1, 2027, and brings the same bill to $120.21.
The 68.8 Ccf level matters because the dollar figures belong only to a household that burns that much gas in a month. A home that uses more, as many do in January and February, sees a larger bill; a home that uses less sees a smaller one. The commission’s number is an average for the residential class at one stated usage level, not a promise about any single account.
What the commission approved against what UGI asked for
UGI Utilities Inc. Gas Division filed for the increase on January 28, 2026, asking for an additional $99.4 million a year, according to the company’s own rate filing page. The commission’s release puts the exact request at $99.368 million, or 8.05 percent. The settlement it approved provides $65 million, or 5.3 percent, in additional annual operating revenue, roughly a third below the request.
The money is phased in. Phase 1 supplies $40 million beginning October 1, 2026, and Phase 2 adds the remaining $25 million beginning October 1, 2027. Under UGI’s original proposal, the same typical residential bill would have climbed from $113.76 to $123.55, a rise of 8.7 percent. The approved path ends $3.34 lower than that at $120.21.
The commission voted 3-1 to approve. The press release does not name the dissenting commissioner, and the commission’s docket for case R-2025-3059523 shows the final order was served on October 1, 2026, along with separate statements from Chairman DeFrank and Vice Chair Barrow. The same docket lists the Office of Consumer Advocate, the Office of Small Business Advocate, the commission’s Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement and the Coalition for Affordable Utility Services and Energy Efficiency in Pennsylvania among the parties.
The fixed monthly customer charge climbs too
A portion of every bill is owed no matter how much gas runs through the meter. The residential customer charge goes from $16.25 to $19 a month under Phase 1 and to $20 a month under Phase 2 on October 1, 2027. UGI had proposed $23 a month. Because the charge is flat, it makes up a larger share of a low-usage summer bill than of a winter one, and the Phase 1 step alone adds $2.75 a month to the part of the bill that does not respond to conservation.
The commission’s order, which is posted on its document site, adopts the settlement reached among the parties in full and without modification. Two Administrative Law Judges, F. Joseph Brady and Alphonso Arnold III, had recommended approval earlier in the case, the press release says.
Assistance terms written into the settlement
The settlement carries provisions aimed at households that struggle to pay. According to the commission, it directs UGI to ensure that customers eligible for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, can be enrolled or recertified in the company’s assistance programs. UGI also agreed to a one-time additional $250,000 contribution to its Operation Share hardship fund and to keep total annual contributions to that fund at $1.5 million.
A third provision expands an arrearage program. Income-qualified customers get the option of a 24-month payment plan covering 50 percent of their current arrears, the commission said. The settlement also bars UGI from filing another base rate increase before January 15, 2029.
UGI’s Customer Assistance Program page describes CAP as a monthly payment based on household income or average bill, with the gap between that payment and actual usage forgiven when payments are made on time. Eligibility is set at 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines; for 2025-2026 the page lists $40,980 a year for a household of three and $49,500 for a household of four. Applications go through a community-based organization that serves the household’s ZIP code, and UGI’s assistance line is 800-276-2722.
When Pennsylvania’s LIHEAP season opens
LIHEAP is the state-run program the settlement points to, and the application window is not open yet. The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services says on its LIHEAP page that the 2025-2026 season has closed and that “the 2026-2027 LIHEAP Season is scheduled to open on November 2, 2026.” Applications run through the state’s COMPASS system or a county assistance office. The department lists income limits of $23,940 for a one-person household and $32,460 for two people, with $8,520 added for each additional member, effective February 1, 2026.
The timing sets the sequence for a household watching a gas bill. Phase 1 rates have applied since October 1, the heating season’s largest bills arrive in the winter months, and the first LIHEAP applications are scheduled to be accepted on November 2. The commission’s release and docket R-2025-3059523 remain the controlling record for every rate figure above.
Heating-season help while the new rates settle in
The UGI order raises the typical bill in two steps, and the assistance it names, LIHEAP enrollment and an income-qualified arrears plan, sits with different agencies on different calendars. The LIHEAP season is scheduled to open November 2, while CAP applications run year-round through a local community organization. Keeping those dates, applications and renewals straight is the unfinished job the rate decision leaves behind.
The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit pairs its heating, cooling and home-repair help with an application log and renewal calendar, so each submitted application and its follow-up date stay in one place.
Get The Senior Property Tax & Home-Cost Relief Kit before the November 2 LIHEAP opening →
This piece was drafted with AI assistance; the figures were checked against the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission’s October 1 release and docket, UGI’s rate filing page and the state’s LIHEAP page.
