Roanoke Gas Company Rate Selection Guide
Roanoke Gas Company, a subsidiary of RGC Resources (NASDAQ: RGCO), distributes natural gas to roughly 62,989 residential, commercial, and industrial customers in the Roanoke, Virginia area under Virginia SCC oversight. The utility deployed Itron smart gas meters and a cloud-based Field Collection System starting in 2017, but customer data access remains portal-based: monthly therms usage and PDF bills, with no Green Button, public API, or documented EDI or third-party programs.
Market Overview
Roanoke Gas operates as a regulated natural gas distribution utility under Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC) oversight. Rates and tariffs are SCC-approved and published on the utility's rates page. Virginia imposes no Green Button or EDI data-access mandates on smaller gas utilities, leaving programmatic access at the utility's discretion.
Need to pull your actual usage data to compare rates? See the Roanoke Gas Company Data Access Guide →
Current Rate Schedules
Roanoke Gas is a natural gas distribution utility regulated by the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), serving roughly 63,000 customers around Roanoke, Salem, and surrounding counties. Bills are rendered in therms (CCF × monthly energy factor) and combine SCC-approved base rates with a quarterly Purchased Gas Adjustment (PGA) that passes through commodity costs, plus the SAVE Rider for pipeline replacement. Larger commercial and industrial customers can bypass the bundled sales rate entirely by buying their own gas and taking firm or interruptible transportation service over Roanoke Gas's distribution system. The company posts a monthly rate sheet on its website — always pull the current month's sheet, since the PGA moves quarterly.
Effective: May 1, 2026 · Full Tariff Book →
| Schedule | Type | Applicability | Structure | Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial Sales Service | commercial | Commercial customers taking bundled gas supply and delivery from Roanoke Gas | Monthly customer charge plus per-therm distribution charges (block-rated at higher volumes) and the quarterly PGA gas cost; SAVE Rider and weather normalization adjustment apply — see current monthly rate sheet | — |
| IFSS – Industrial Firm Sales Service | industrial | Industrial customers requiring firm (non-interruptible) bundled gas supply | Monthly customer charge plus a flat per-therm rate on all therms with PGA pass-through; firm delivery priority during peak winter conditions — see tariff for current rates | — |
| IFTS – Industrial Firm Transportation Service | industrial | Industrial customers who purchase their own gas from a third-party supplier and pay Roanoke Gas for firm delivery only | Monthly customer charge (historically ~$1,000), a per-therm demand charge based on contracted firm capacity, and a low per-therm transportation charge on all throughput; customer manages its own supply and pipeline nominations — see tariff for current rates | — |
| ITS – Interruptible Transportation Service | industrial | Large-volume customers with alternate fuel capability or tolerance for curtailment during peak demand | Monthly charge plus declining-block per-therm transportation rates (historically three blocks: first 43,000 therms, 43,000–700,000, over 700,000) with no demand charge; service may be curtailed on peak days — see tariff for current rates | — |
| BUS – Back Up Service | industrial | Transportation customers needing standby bundled supply when their own gas deliveries fall short | Demand charge plus per-therm charge on backup volumes taken; pairs with IFTS/ITS to cover supply interruptions — see tariff for current rates | — |
Rate Recommendations by Use Case
Manufacturing plant or large process load (>100,000 therms/yr)
Move off bundled sales service to transportation service — buy gas competitively from a marketer and pay Roanoke Gas only for delivery.
Transportation rates strip the gas commodity out of the utility bill, letting large users shop supply against multiple marketers instead of taking the quarterly PGA. ITS's declining blocks reward high throughput, and historically its transportation charges run a fraction of bundled sales rates.
- Compare at least three gas marketers' fixed and index-priced supply offers before each contract term
- Choose ITS only if you have dual-fuel capability or can tolerate curtailment on peak winter days
- Size the IFTS demand contract carefully — the per-therm demand charge applies to contracted capacity whether or not you use it
Hospital, university, or campus with critical heating load
Take firm transportation with backup service so supply is competitive but delivery and standby remain guaranteed.
Critical facilities cannot accept curtailment, so firm transportation preserves delivery priority while still unlocking competitive supply. BUS provides utility-supplied gas if the third-party supplier fails to deliver, eliminating the single-supplier risk.
- Negotiate supplier contracts with delivery guarantees and liquidated damages for failure to deliver
- Hold a BUS contract sized to your peak-day burn as insurance
- Review contracted firm capacity annually against actual peak-day usage to avoid paying demand charges on unused capacity
Restaurant, retail, or small commercial building
Stay on bundled commercial sales service and focus on usage efficiency rather than supply procurement.
Below roughly 50,000-100,000 therms per year, the fixed monthly charges and administrative overhead of transportation service outweigh commodity savings. Small commercial accounts do better managing consumption and verifying the weather normalization adjustment on each bill.
- Pull the monthly rate sheet from roanokegas.com to track PGA changes quarter to quarter
- Check the weather normalization adjustment line — it smooths bills in abnormal weather and is easy to misread
- Schedule annual burner tune-ups; combustion efficiency drift of 5% shows up directly in therms
Cost Optimization Strategies
Gas cost optimization at Roanoke Gas centers on three levers: getting the right rate class (sales vs. transportation), buying the commodity competitively once you're large enough to transport, and managing winter peak-day exposure that drives demand charges and curtailment risk. Because the PGA resets quarterly and the SAVE Rider escalates with pipeline replacement spending, even sales-service customers should re-verify their rate economics annually.
Convert to transportation service
For: Industrial and large commercial customers, typically >100,000 therms/year
Large users on bundled sales rates pay the utility's PGA-based commodity cost. Switching to IFTS or ITS lets you contract supply directly with marketers at negotiated prices and pay Roanoke Gas only the distribution charge — historically pennies per therm on transportation versus a flat bundled industrial rate several times higher.
Take interruptible service if you have fuel flexibility
For: Large-volume customers with alternate fuel or curtailable load
ITS carries no demand charge and declining-block transportation rates, in exchange for accepting curtailment on peak winter days. Facilities with propane backup, fuel oil dual-fuel burners, or schedulable process load can capture the lowest delivered cost on the system.
Right-size firm demand contracts
For: IFTS and BUS customers
IFTS demand charges apply to contracted firm capacity every month, used or not. Review three winters of peak-day burn data and trim contracted capacity to actual need plus a reasonable margin — oversubscribed capacity is pure waste, while undersubscribing risks overrun penalties.
Understand the weather normalization adjustment
For: All sales-service customers
Roanoke Gas applies a weather normalization adjustment that raises or lowers bills when heating-degree days deviate from normal. Budget against weather-normalized usage rather than raw bills, and use the adjustment line to separate weather effects from genuine consumption drift when tracking efficiency projects.
Time procurement around the quarterly PGA
For: Transportation customers and prospective converts
The PGA passes through gas costs with a quarterly lag, so bundled customers feel commodity spikes a quarter late. Transportation customers can instead lock fixed-price supply during shoulder seasons (spring/early fall) when forward winter strips typically price lowest, hedging the heating season before the market tightens.
To implement these strategies, you need your 15-minute interval data. Learn how to download Roanoke Gas Company interval data →
Frequently Asked Questions
How do commercial customers access Roanoke Gas billing data?▾
Register at https://myaccount.roanokegas.com/ to view current bills, billing history with monthly therms usage, and PDF downloads. For data downloads or periodic reporting beyond the portal, engage your assigned account manager through Business Services at (540) 793-5104 — custom arrangements may require written agreements or fees.
Does Roanoke Gas provide interval gas data?▾
Not to customers. Itron smart meters (deployed since 2017) collect detailed meter data for internal operations and billing accuracy, but the portal exposes only monthly therms usage. Detailed consumption records can be requested through Customer Service at (540) 777-4427 — availability and format are at the utility's discretion.
Does Roanoke Gas support Green Button, an API, or EDI?▾
No Green Button/ESPI or public API is documented, and EDI support is unknown — no transaction set specifications or trading partner enrollment are published. If your operation needs EDI, ask Business Services at (540) 793-5104 directly whether EDI transactions for billing and account management are supported.
How can an energy consultant or ESCO get a client's Roanoke Gas data?▾
Obtain written customer authorization (account number, authorization period, data scope), then contact Business Services at (540) 793-5104 with the documentation and use case. For C&I accounts, the assigned account manager can arrange billing data downloads or periodic email reports; expect negotiated terms and possible fees. ESCOs should also confirm regulatory standing with the Virginia SCC.
What smart meter technology does Roanoke Gas use?▾
Itron smart gas meters with remote reading, paired with Itron's cloud-based Field Collection System, deployed starting May 2017. The rollout ended estimated reads and improved billing accuracy and system visibility — though the granular data remains internal rather than customer-accessible.
Where are Roanoke Gas rates published?▾
Rates and tariffs approved by the Virginia State Corporation Commission are posted at roanokegas.com/customer-service/rates. Virginia imposes no Green Button or EDI mandates on smaller gas utilities, so data access capabilities are set at Roanoke Gas's discretion.
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