ND:High prices, low temperatures will cause gas bills to double

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Tuesday, December 12, 2000

High prices, low temperatures will cause gas bills to double JOE GARDYASZ, Bismarck Tribune

Doug and Bev Doolittle wanted to see how much their heating costs had gone up this year, so they did some figuring.

"We were shocked to see that it had doubled for the October-November bill compared to last year," said Doug Doolittle, a pharmacist in Bismarck. Comparing July through October for each year, they found their cost for that period this year is up 44 percent over last year.

The Bismarck couple isn't alone in seeing higher bills. A combination of record-high natural gas prices and below-average temperatures in the past month will mean customers could see bills that are more than double what they paid in December 1999.

Natural gas prices have been driven up because more natural gas than ever is being used to generate electricity to meet overall energy demands, officials say. Prices for natural gas are 35 percent higher than at this time last year.

At the same time, heating degree days, a measure of what it takes to heat your house based on outdoor temperatures, have been more than 50 percent higher than last year and 11 percent above average for this time of year.

"Last year we had lower prices and higher temperatures," Montana-Dakota Utilities spokesman Dan Sharp said. "This year we've got higher prices and lower temperatures. So both temperatures and prices are going the way consumers don't want to see them go."

MDU customers in western North Dakota are currently paying nearly $7 per decatherm for natural gas each month, up from about $5.70 just two months ago. The rate drops slightly for each decatherm over five decatherms used.

The average North Dakota family uses about 100 decatherms of natural gas each year. On a frigid day when the wind chill is 20 below zero, a household could use one decatherm in a day. One decatherm is equivalent to 1 million British thermal units, or about as much energy as there is in eight gallons of gasoline.

The Doolittles, whose north Bismarck house has probably 3,000 square feet to heat, have taken some measures to try to lower heating bills for their 20-year-old home.

Just recently, they added weather stripping in the garage where there were air leaks. They also sealed up the fireplace against drafts, and winterized the patio door with plastic sheeting.

"That seems to help quite a bit," Doolittle said of the plastic sheeting.

With their three kids in college now, they've also closed off the lower level vents of the four-level house to concentrate the heat upstairs, he said.

They also had their furnace cleaned and inspected last year, a measure MDU officials say should be done at the beginning of every season for safety and peak efficiency.

Customers who are having trouble paying their utility should contact MDU to arrange a payment plan or to determine if they qualify for home heating assistance programs, MDU President Wayne Fox said.

While customers can't control the weather or gas prices, they can also take a number of steps to save energy, such as installing set-back thermostats, humidifiers and changing furnace filters regularly, he said.

The utility is encouraging its customers to sign up for its balanced billing program, which uses a rolling average to smooth out a household's higher winter bills with typically lower summer costs. Approximately 35,000 MDU customers are enrolled now in MDU's four-state region.

"We're not going to go on the level billing as MDU suggests," Doolittle said. "I guess we'll turn the thermostat down when we're sleeping and during the day when no one's home."

http://www.bismarcktribune.com/tribwebpage/news/dec2000/1212200054742.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 12, 2000


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