More than 27,000 customers may be paying more for natural gas by October.

Peoples TWP has filed a proposal with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to raise its natural gas rates of its customers, including 27,216 of them in Butler County, as of Oct. 1.

The proposal was part of an annual filing to recover the costs of buying gas. It’s also to project costs for the following year.

Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, the PUC press secretary, emphasized that the proposal is not for a mark-up or a profit.

“It’s to reconcile last year’s (costs) and to look forward to next year’s,” Hagen-Frederiksen said.

The filing will be reviewed by the PUC. If the PUC finds that Peoples TWP bought the cheapest gas available for its customers, the rates will be put into effect on Oct. 1.

Peoples TWP’s proposal includes an increase in revenues of 2.7 percent, though changes in a customer’s bill may vary from that percentage based on usage and the applicable rate schedule.

The average monthly bill of a residential customer using 90 Mcf, which is 1,000 cubic feet of gas, per year could increase by $3 per month from $88 to $91.

The average monthly bill of a small commercial or industrial customer using 2,692 Mcf per year could increase by $10 per month from $159 to $169.

For the medium-to-large commercial or industrial customer using 2,692 Mcf per year, the average monthly bill could be increase by $107 from $1,786 to $1,893.

Joe Gregorini, Peoples TWP vice president of rates and regulatory affairs, said the proposal is “just a projection.”

“It could fluctuate either way,” he said of the rate hike request.