PPL Gas Utilities’ 76,000 customers will see a decrease in their bills this fall. The company announced Friday (8/31) a 3 percent reduction in the rate customers pay for the gas supply portion of their bill.

The new rate, $10.12 per dekatherm, applies to gas use beginning Saturday (9/1).

“We purchase all of the natural gas we need from suppliers on the open market, and we strive to keep prices as stable as possible for our customers,” said Robert M. Geneczko, president of PPL Gas Utilities. “We’re glad to be able to pass along a price decrease to our customers right before the start of the heating season.”

Geneczko said PPL Gas Utilities negotiates with wholesale natural gas suppliers for a reliable and cost-effective supply of gas. The costs of natural gas purchases are passed directly through to customers on the gas supply portion of the bill without any markup or profit for PPL Gas Utilities.

For the average residential customer, gas supply charges make up 61 percent of the monthly bill, while charges for delivering gas through PPL Gas Utilities’ pipeline system account for 39 percent.

Under the new rate, a residential customer who uses 7 dekatherms per month will see a decrease in the total gas bill from $118.63 to $115.91. The total gas bill for a commercial customer using 30 dekatherms will decrease from $422.20 to $410.42. The bill for an industrial customer using 166 dekatherms will decrease from $2,169.80 to $2,105.26.

PPL Gas Utilities bills customers based on gas use, measured in dekatherms — a unit of heat energy equal to 1 million British thermal units. The energy in a dekatherm can run a gas furnace for 10 hours or dry 72 loads of laundry in a gas dryer.

PPL Gas Utilities, a subsidiary of PPL Corporation (NYSE: PPL), provides natural gas delivery service to 76,000 homes and businesses in 34 Pennsylvania counties and a small portion of Maryland.