BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) – Willie Sanders couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw his most recent bill from Delta Utilities.
“This is ridiculous, I’m looking at the charges now,” Sanders said. “Well, I didn’t see it at first. My wife opened it. She said, babe you know they charging you $105? It says your gas bill is $150.”
Sanders said that’s five times what he used to pay. He went looking for answers and said Delta told him his usage went up.
“I don’t think I did that,” Sanders said.
With his wallet hurting, Sanders tried to reach a supervisor at the company.
“I called three times trying to talk to a supervisor. They would not let me talk to one. They told me they were going to call me back. I’m still waiting on that call,” Sanders said.
Rising rates draw commission attention
Other customers appear to be having similar issues with rising rates on their bills from Delta. The situation has gained enough attention that the Public Service Commission is actively monitoring it.
In a statement to WAFB, Commissioner Jean-Paul Coussan said the following:
We are aware of the issue and have been in contact with Delta to ensure they have been no discrepancies or unauthorized rate increases. We requested 2024 data to compare with 2025, and after reviewing this information, one of the issues is that we have experienced a colder November and December this year. Couple that with the price of natural gas increasing from last year, which is a direct pass-through to customers (meaning Delta does not make any profit off the cost of natural gas), many customers are seeing higher bills due to more usage.
Also, Delta customers who were previously with Entergy Gas are now seeing a separate gas bill for the first time. Delta itemizes its bills to increase transparency with its customers on what they are being billed for, which has caused customers to see charges that were once bundled together with Entergy. We will continue to monitor any systematic complaints and get to the bottom of the causes.
Company explains rate increases
“Gas consumption surged across our operating footprint by about 145% in those months,” said Sarah McLaughlin Porteous, vice president of communications for Delta Utilities.
Porteous explained why customers might be seeing an increase in monthly payments this winter.
“We work to minimize costs through advanced purchases of natural gas when prices are typically lower, but there have been recent increases in market natural gas prices. Those are reflected in customer bills, so we want to make sure they are aware of that,” Porteous said.
Porteous said Delta doesn’t see a dime from those fees.
“So, delta utilities passes the commodity cost directly to customers without any markup or profit,” Porteous said.
After reaching out, the company said they plan on getting in contact with Sanders as soon as possible.
Click here to report a typo. Please include the headline.
Click here to subscribe to our WAFB 9 News daily digest and breaking news alerts delivered straight to your email inbox.
Watch the latest WAFB news and weather now.
Copyright 2026 WAFB. All rights reserved.