HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission on Thursday approved a plan submitted by National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp. to distribute tax savings associated with the federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 which had not been previously addressed.

The Commission voted 4-0 to approve a petition filed by National Fuel Gas to distribute $3,806,329.18 in tax savings and interest for the period of Oct. 1, 2017, through June 30, 2018.

These accumulated tax savings will be refunded to National Fuel Gas customers as a “negative surcharge” – or credit – on monthly customer bills. That is the same mechanism already being used by National Fuel Gas to return current and future savings from the federal tax cuts act. The additional funds will be included in monthly bill credits starting Oct. 1, 2021 and continuing for the next year.

The tax savings included in this National Fuel Gas petition accumulated before the PUC instituted a statewide process in 2018 to return utility tax savings to customers. Per the Commission’s order, any utility that had not filed a base rate case on or before May 17, 2021, was required to submit a plan to address and return any tax savings that had accumulated before June 30, 2018.