Home heating prices to rise 45 percent for gas users By Richard Lewis Staff Writer AMES--Ames residents will see their homes gas heating bills rise about 45 percent this winter, according to projections by the lone natural gas distributor serving the city. Alliant Energy forecasts that a typical household of four (two parents, two children) will pay, on average, $525.12 to heat a home from October to February. The monthly bill for the same five months last year was $362.75.

Its going to have a big impact on peoples lives, said John Ruff, Alliant Energys communications manager.

But those residents who use electricity to heat their homes will see only a minimal increase, since the citys purchase price for coal is already locked up, said Gary Titus, assistant director at the Ames Electric Administration. The city-owned utility is in the second year of a five-year contract with Cargill for coal from Wyoming. The contract cost about $6 million. Ames runs a plant that burns coal to produce steam, which is pumped through a turbine to generate electricity.

Those outside Ames, many of whom use heating oil or propane, also will see price increases. There is no set rate increase, as the mostly rural residents who use oil or propane can buy fuel from many outlets.

Alliant will raise its rates, Ruff said, because the company must pay 30 to 40 percent more for natural gas than it has in previous years. Indeed, wholesale natural gas prices have doubled since last year, The New York Times reported.

Those who may escape the price increase  at least for as long as their leases run through the winter  are renters. Gary Hunziker, owner of Hunziker Property Management, one of the larger rental property managers in Ames, said the firm likely will absorb the higher natural gas prices for the time being on its approximately 1,300 rental properties.

While the warmer-than-usual winters of the recent past may have been a godsend to peoples pocketbooks, it created a glut of natural gas that drove many producers out of the market, Ruff said.

That means there are fewer sources for natural gas distributors such as Alliant, which serves parts of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan, Ruff explained. Alliant buys its natural gas from pipelines in Alaska and Canada or from the Gulf of Mexico. The company, as set by state regulation, is the exclusive natural gas distributor in Ames and its 16,237 households.

Tips to save money

Higher prices to heat the home could create havoc with family financial planning. It could also be back-breaking for poorer people. But there are ways to increase energy efficiency and reduce the impact of escalating heating costs. Here are some tips from natural gas supplier Alliant Energy:

v Turn the water heater down from 140 degrees to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.

v Caulk those windows. A tiny, 1/16-inch gap in the window frame is tantamount to leaving that window open, said John Ruff, Alliant Energys communications manager.

v Buy an energy-efficient shower head. It will cut water usage (and the heating of it) to an average of 7 gallons per shower from 20 gallons. And the water pressure wont diminish, Ruff insists.

v Get on a budget billing plan with Alliant. The company will bill you based on your average usage over the preceding 12 months, not on current usage. Look at it as a loan of sorts: Those higher prices, under the plan, will be factored when those cold months roll around next year.

http://www.amestrib.com/news.cfm?num=1867

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), October 02, 2000