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Updated at 1:16 p.m. Wednesday:

Most Lawrence residents soon will know how much last February’s winter storm is going to add to their natural gas bills: about $140 a year for the next five years.

Black Hills Energy, the largest natural gas utility in Lawrence, announced Wednesday morning that it had reached a tentative settlement agreement with state regulators on how to charge its customers for extremely high natural gas prices the utility faced during the arctic blast that hit the state in early 2021.

Black Hills, the Kansas Corporation Commission and Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board have tentatively agreed that Black Hills can recoup $87.9 million in extraordinarily high gas prices that occurred during the winter storm. The company can recoup those costs over a five-year period.

For the typical residential customer, that will mean an $11.47 per month charge on their natural gas bills from Black Hills Energy. That charge would be expected to remain on bills for five years. Over the course of the five-year recoupment period, that would amount to just under $690 in additional charges, or just less than $140 a year.

The amount is slightly less than what Black Hills had proposed to regulators in June. As reported then, Black Hills was seeking a charge of $12.23 per month.

If you are forgetting what caused all this price adjusting, here’s a reminder. The winter storm caused a tremendous surge in the price natural gas was selling for on the open market. Utility companies ended up buying that high-priced gas to ensure consumers could heat their homes and businesses.

While your natural gas bill likely did go up significantly following the February storms, that primarily was related to how much natural gas you were using to heat your home. The utility companies didn’t adjust the bills upward to account for how much more they were paying to purchase natural gas.

That adjustment is what is happening now. Since utilities are regulated in Kansas, the KCC must sign off on how companies like Black Hills recoup those costs. Normally utilities would be allowed to recoup those extraordinary costs during a one-year period, but the KCC is signing off on a five-year recoupment period to make the increases in monthly bills less painful.

I said less painful, not painless. At $11.47 per month, I believe that will amount to just less than a 20% increase in the monthly bill of a typical residential customer, based on past information I’ve received from Black Hills.

The higher monthly bills are scheduled to start arriving Feb. 1, a Black Hills spokesman told me. The settlement announced Wednesday, however, is pending a final hearing and approval by the KCC.

“We are pleased to reach a constructive agreement for recovery of costs we incurred to keep our customers warm and safe when they needed us the most,” said Jerry Watkins, Kansas general manager for Black Hills Energy. “Our team is proud of our reliable service through the dangerously cold conditions of Winter Storm Uri and other winter events. Recovery of these costs are essential to continue delivering safe and reliable service for our 117,000 customers across 66 communities in Kansas.”

It is possible that Kansas consumers might get some future relief from these special charges, but I wouldn’t count on it just yet. There are at least two government entities looking into whether natural gas producers — not utilities like Black Hills, but rather companies that pump the gas from the ground and trade it — participated in price gouging during the arctic blast.

David Nickel, consumer counsel for Kansas’ Citizens Utility Ratepayer Board, told me both the Kansas Attorney General’s office and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission are looking into whether the price spikes in February were predatory in nature.

To remind you of an example of how high prices were: There were reports of utilities spending in two weeks on wholesale natural gas what they normally would spend in four years.

“It is our view that these costs are very difficult to explain,” Nickel said.

He is holding out hope that natural gas consumers may get some refunds, someday.

“We fully believe and hope that the attorney general and FERC will be able to find there was profit gouging going on and those amounts will get returned back to consumers in Kansas and other states,” Nickel said.

But when that may happen is anyone’s guess. Nickel said he is more closely following the efforts of the Kansas attorney general. He said the office recently put out requests for proposals for law firms interested in helping investigate the case.

“We feel fairly confident that the AG’s office will turn over every stone possible to help Kansas consumers,” Nickel said.

In the meantime, Kansans likely will experience a double hit with natural gas bills this winter. In addition to the special surcharge for the arctic blast, current natural gas prices are higher than normal, and a colder-than-normal winter would cause total bills to be significantly higher.

“It doesn’t look good, does it?” Nickel said of the winter outlook for natural gas customers.

Black Hills Energy on Wednesday was reminding customers it wants to work with households who may have a hard time paying their natural gas bills this winter.

“We’re committed to providing the safe, reliable energy that our communities need to thrive,” Watkins said. “We encourage our customers struggling to pay their bills to reach out to our customer service team to inquire about energy assistance funding such as the Kansas Low Income Energy Assistance Program, Black Hills Cares and Budget Billing.”