Story and photo by Steve Nash – Special Contributor to BrownwoodNews.com

Brownwood City Council members gave reluctant, preliminary approval Tuesday to joining a negotiated settlement between the Atmos Cities Steering Committee and Atmos Energy Corp., Mid-Tex Division for a $260.5 million rate increase.

The impact of the settlement on average residential rates is an increase of $13.37 on a monthly basis, or 14.15%, council members were told. The increase for average commercial usage will be $44.82 or 9.90%. Atmos provided bill impact comparisons containing these figures. The effective date for new rates is October 1, 2026.

Council members and Mayor Stephen Haynes expressed frustration at the rate increase.

Council members were told:

Brownwood, along with 181 other Mid-Texas cities served by Atmos Mid-Tex Division, is a member of the Atmos Cities Steering Committee.

On April 1, 2026, Atmos filed a rate request, claim its cost-of-service in a test year ending December 31, 2025, entitled it to additional revenues of $291.1 million.

The steering committee’s consultants concluded that the system-wide deficiency should be $253.4 million instead of the claimed $291.1 million.

After several settlement meetings, the parties have agreed to settle the case for $260.5 million.