Suburban Natural Gas customers would pay an extra $13 a month.

Suburban Natural Gas customers are looking at a rate hike that the company says is necessary to deal with climbing costs and to help pay for expansion in rapidly-growing Delaware County.

The company, based in Lewis Center, is asking state regulators to allow it to increase the monthly service charge residential customers pay by $12.44 to $41.86. With other fees, taxes and expenses, customers would pay an extra $13.06 a month.

The monthly service charge does not cover the cost of gas.

For a customer using an average of 10 Mcf of natural gas a month, the rate increase works out to 13.9 percent, according to Suburban.

Suburban customers would pay an additional $3.4 million a year for service.

The company said the increase would be its first since 2008. The company serves customers in Delaware and Marion counties in central Ohio and in Lucas, Wood and Henry counties in northwest Ohio.

Suburban now has 17,335 customers, about 4,000 more than it had in 2008, according to Andy Sonderman, the company's president and chief operating officer.

The cost of labor, supplies, equipment and vehicles are higher since the last increase in 2008, he said.

The company has also been extending pipeline to ensure it can meet customer demand, especially in rapidly growing Delaware County. Suburban's service territory includes the Polaris area and the massive JPMorgan Chase & Co. McCoy Center where 10,000 employees work.

"The fact of the matter is we have added $20 million worth of investment to our system in that 10 years (since the last increase)," Sonderman said. "The pipeline system has to expand."’

In addition to the increase in the monthly service fee, Suburban is asking to raise rates on other charges, such as increasing the fee to reconnect for service from $20 to $36, according to regulatory filings.

While Suburban has not given the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio a date for when it would like to see the increase go into effect, Sonderman said the company would like the PUCO to act as soon as possible.

The Ohio Consumers' Counsel said Thursday it believes the proposed hike to the fixed cost of service is unfair to customers who don't use much gas.

"Unfortunately for consumers, the PUCO has been favoring high fixed charges," said J.P. Blackwood, a spokesman for the Consumers' Counsel, in a statement. "The unfortunate result is higher total bills for the many consumers who are able to lower usage through conservation or otherwise. For consumer protection we will advocate in the case for a lower fixed charge.”

mawilliams@dispatch.com

@BizMarkWilliams