HARRISBURG — Peoples Natural Gas has asked for a decrease in natural gas rates for residential customers by 5.6 percent.

The company has filed a request with the state Public Utilities Commission for the decrease take effect Oct. 1. The company asked for an overall decrease of $15.9 million per year.

Company spokesman Barry Kukovich said the reason for the request is the decreasing cost of gas.

If the request is authorized, average residential customers could see their monthly bills decrease from $80.50 to about $76.

Commercial customers could see monthly bills decrease from $188.50 to about $175. Average industrial customers could see their monthly bills decrease from $2,674 to $2,434.

The request will be examined by the PUC, and hearings will be scheduled to discuss the issue.

Peoples has 360,000 customers, mostly in the southwestern part of the state. It has about 13,000 customers in Butler County, mostly in the southern and western parts of the county, and the Slippery Rock area.

Peoples TWP, a sister company of Peoples that also has customers in the county, had its rates increase in 2014. The request to decrease rates for Peoples customers would not affect Peoples TWP customers.