Copyright 2000 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
December 28, 2000, Thursday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: NEWS, Pg. A1
LENGTH: 953 words
HEADLINE:
CONSUMERS MAY FACE HOME-HEATING BILL SHOCK;
NATURAL GAS COST IS UP, AND THE
COLD HAS DEPLETED SUPPLY UTILITIES MAY SEEK;
NEW RATE HIKE
BYLINE: Gargi Chakrabarty; Of The Post-Dispatch
BODY:
If you think this month's natural gas
bills are outrageous, just wait.
Analysts expect January's bills to jump
even higher, thanks to a cold winter coupled with steeply higher natural
gas prices.
Laclede Gas Co. and other natural gas
suppliers may ask for emergency rate increases as soon as next week to pass
along to consumers the rising price of natural gas on national
commodity markets.
Even if no rate increases are imposed, natural gas
bills next month could be more than 50 percent higher than those of a year ago.
And for a simple reason: It's been much colder. In St. Louis, December
temperatures so far have averaged a high of 31 degrees this month, compared with
48 a year ago.
"We estimate that the consumption of natural gas by
families has gone up 53 percent during this month as compared with December
1999," said Jane Dotson, spokesperson for Laclede, the area's leading gas
supplier. "This would reflect in their bills for this month."
Analysts
expect bills to be more than 20 percent higher in December than for November.
Those big bills for the December cold snap are just arriving, and
they're straining some family budgets.
"I got my bill and it shocked me.
It doubled," said Jacqueline Hutchinson of University City. Laclede Gas charged
$ 299 for heating her eight-room home for a month. Her bill normally is $ 140 to
$ 150 in December, she said.
Hutchinson is getting a taste of what her
clients face. She runs the Energy Crisis Intervention Program, which helps
people who can't pay their utility bills.
Hutchinson said she isn't a
heating hog. Her furnace automatically shuts down between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., and
she keeps the thermostat at between 68 and 72 degrees at night.
Mike
Heim, energy analyst at Edward Jones in St. Louis, blamed two factors for rising
natural gas prices: short supply and higher demand due to cold weather.
"The commodity price of natural gas has been galloping over the couple
of months," Heim said. "Consumption also has climbed sharply due to the lower
than normal winter temperatures."
Natural gas prices have quadrupled
since last winter to about $ 10 per million British thermal units, the standard
measurement.
Natural gas supply is tight because companies cut back on
drilling for new gas when prices were low. Meanwhile, more utilities are using
natural gas to generate electricity.
Bob Schallenberg, energy expert at
the Missouri Office of the Public Service Commission, said he expects natural
gas companies on Jan. 1 to seek emergency price increases, known as purchase gas
adjustments, if the weather continues to be cold.
The Public Service
Commission allows natural gas companies to adjust the prices they charge to
customers on the basis of the commodity price of natural gas during midseason.
"We've never had a (purchase gas adjustment) filing during normal times
before, but this winter has been exceptional," Schallenberg said.
Laclede Gas, with 622,000 customers, has yet to decide on a price
increase next month. A January increase - if it comes - would be the second this
season for the company. It also raised the price Nov. 15.
"We are still
debating whether to seek further increase prices," Dotson said. "However, we can
do an unscheduled adjustment of the price based on the open market price for
natural gas."
Illinois Power Co. said it will decide on a January price
increase depending on the weather and the market price of gas. The Illinois
Commerce Commission allows it to change prices according to open market changes.
"The market has been very volatile. It is difficult to predict price
changes," said Molly Hall, a spokeswoman for Illinois Power. "From all
indications, we can say the price of natural gas during January will be higher
than historic levels."
Illinois Power has already warned its customers
that the typical gas bill for December could be substantially higher than in
recent years.
"The bill for the customer who uses 136 therms of natural
gas will be $ 122.92. Typical December bills for the same usage in recent years
have ranged from $ 71.13 to $ 96.26," stated a press release from the company.
Illinois Power serves more than 650,000 natural gas and electricity customers in
a 15,000-square-mile territory across Illinois.
Fears of a price
increase have been fueled further by a sharp drop in storage levels. Though both
Laclede Gas and Illinois Power insist their inventory levels are satisfactory,
the national scene is dismal.
The sharply colder winter has caused gas
supplies in storage to drop 23 percent from the mid-December average of the last
five years, according to the American Gas Association's report for the week
ended Dec. 15.
Meanwhile, customers such as Hutchinson will have to pay.
Hutchinson won't have to pay her $ 299 December bill all at once. She's on
Laclede's budget billing plan, which averages bills over a year. But her $ 121
monthly bill this year is still far above the $ 74 a month she paid last year.
Need help with gas bills?
* In Missouri, people who have
trouble paying this month's large bills can take advantage of the state's cold
weather rule. The rule lets customers pay such bills over several months while
also converting to a budget-billing plan, which averages gas bills over an
entire year.
* People who still can't afford to pay can call the state
Energy Assistance Office in their counties. The number for St. Louis and St.
Louis County is 314-340-7600. If the state office can't provide enough help, it
will pass the customer along to the Energy Crisis program or similar programs.
* More information on those programs also is available from the United
Way at 800-427-4626.
LOAD-DATE: December 28, 2000
