Customers of Cascade Natural Gas will see a decrease in their bills beginning Friday, according to the Oregon Public Utility Commission.

But those with Oregon’s largest natural gas utility will see an increase, although a smaller one than they’ve grown accustomed to, while customers from the company that serves Southern Oregon, will also see a decrease.

Cascade Natural Gas residential customers will see a decrease, on average, of $9.47 per month, or about 13.2%, according to the PUC. For commercial customers, it will drop by $46.54, on average, or 16.9%, the agency said in a news release issued Thursday. Industrial customers’ monthly bills will decline by $345.50 or 19.6%.

Cascade Natural Gas serves more than 75,000 customers in the Bend area and parts of Northeast Oregon.

Customers of NW Natural will see an increase of 4.7% — that will mean an average of $3.74 more a month on a typical gas bill. NW Natural provides service in a broad swath of Western Oregon, including the Portland area, and also has customers in the Columbia River Gorge.

Meanwhile, Avista residential customers will see an 8.7% decrease or pay an average of $65 a month on their bills. Avista serves Southern and Eastern Oregon. Last year, residential customers paid about $70 a month. In 2020, Avista residential customers’ gas bills averaged about $56 a month.

The Oregon Public Utilities Commission, which regulates the state’s utilities, including electricity and natural gas, noted the decreases are due in part to the drop in price of natural gas or methane gas, combined with customer overcharges from last year and a mild winter that reduced the demand of natural gas.

“We are fortunate this year to see the stabilizing supply and demand of natural gas ease financial pressures on consumers,” PUC Chair Megan Decker said in a statement.

The slight decrease for some Oregonians might come as a relief as many are still reeling from high gas rate increases from recent years. For NW Natural customers, who are paying 50% more than they did in 2020, the increase could have been much higher.

The utility originally asked for an 18% increase to go into effect Friday. But last week, the Oregon Public Utilities Commission ordered NW Natural to remove nearly $14 million from customers’ rates. The commission said NW Natural was overspending and also needed to phase out subsidies that helped connect new customers to the utility by charging existing customers.

Charlotte Shuff, outreach and communications director for the nonprofit consumer watchdog Oregon Citizens’ Utility Board, said these decisions are a big deal and show that community input and advocacy made an impact on this year’s rates.

“As we’re seeing prices of everything go up, we’ve especially seen energy prices in Oregon go up over the last few years,” she said. “So this is a really big impact for a lot of people, and it’s just truly the testament to the will of the community coming together and making our voices heard.”

According to the Oregon Public Utilities Commission, NW Natural’s increase will address growing demand and fund improvements to system communications and a pipe replacement.

The company will also expand its bill discount program to its customers, with deeper income-based discounts and a new debt forgiveness program that will help low-income customers who struggle with energy bill debt.

NW Natural spokesperson David Roy said the company is committed to providing reliable energy to their customers at an affordable price.

“Today, our average residential customer pays lower natural gas bills than they did 20 years ago,” he said. “We understand that rate increases can be challenging, which is why we have expanded our Oregon bill discount program for customers with qualifying incomes.”