Published: Thursday, December 28, 2000

Gas bill will have you seeing red Soaring energy prices are clobbering residents this winter, but many are learning to cope.

ALLISON KAPLAN STAFF WRITER

Christi Tesch clutched the kitchen table to keep from collapsing when she saw her December utility bill: a whopping $176, almost double what she usually pays in the winter months. ``I about died,'' gasped Tesch, a single mother raising six kids in a rented three-bedroom rambler in St. Paul. The 41-year-old works full time as a nursing assistant, but even with food stamps she can't keep up with skyrocketing heating bills.

``How are you supposed to squeeze money out of a turnip?'' Tesch asks. She has been paying what she can to Xcel Energy -- $20 one month, $75 the next -- but with rates and usage rising for the past few months, she has piled up a $700 balance.

Utility companies warned last fall that natural gas bills could increase as much as 50 percent this winter. Similar warnings came the past few winters without much impact. But the worst-case scenario is playing out this year: The highest natural gas prices in years have combined with cold weather that Minnesota and Wisconsin residents haven't endured in several winters.

And January is expected to be just as bad, said Scott Hults, Xcel Energy's manager of gas supply planning. That means the average Xcel customer is paying about $40 to $50 more than usual this month, and it's much worse for many residents of homes with poor insulation.

``People with low incomes or seniors on a fixed income just have no further money to put anywhere,'' said Karen Morrissey, a consumer credit counselor with Lutheran Social Services who helped Tesch figure out that after bills she has about $50 spending money every two weeks. Tesch was referred to Ramsey Action Programs, which will help her get caught up on her utility bill.

``Budgeting is not going to solve the problem of accelerating costs,'' Morrissey said.

Ramsey Action Programs, the local administrator of federal heating assistance funds, has received more applications in the past two months than it did for all of last winter. Throughout Minnesota, 70,000 households have received help paying their bills since the bitter cold settled in. Last winter 84,105 families got payments from October to June.

In anticipation, federal funds for Minnesota residents have been boosted from $42 million to $77 million, said John Harvanko, director of the energy program for the Minnesota Economic Security Department. ``We think we'll be able to help everyone, but it's hard to say,'' Harvanko added.

Just when need is rising, donations to Salvation Army's Heat Share assistance program, which relies on private funds, are down about $100,000 from last year. Program coordinator Mike McGlone thinks people have less to give as their own gas bills increase.

For low-income households, all utility bills -- gas, electricity, water, telephone and garbage removal -- claim about 25 percent of earnings, Harvanko said, compared with about 8 percent for middle-income families. Still, an unexpected $150 heating bill pinches, even when you have money in the bank.

Former State Rep. Walt Perlt and his wife, Dodie, of Woodbury subscribe to Xcel Energy's budget helper program, which computes a standard monthly fee based on a customer's annual electricity and gas usage. The Perlts pay $118 a month, but Dodie Perlt said that in December their actual energy charges were listed as $146. Fearing a huge cleanup bill come springtime, Perlt said she has been paying an extra $25 to the gas company for the past two months.

The Perlts, who live in a modest rambler in one of Woodbury's older neighborhoods, Park Hills, have also tried to lower their energy consumption by sealing some windows with plastic and lowering the thermostat to 65 degrees at night.

During the gas crisis of the early 1970s, the Perlts installed a wood-burning stove in their living room. They still use it occasionally to lower their natural gas heating costs.

``I can remember back in the '60s wearing an extra sweater and keeping the thermostat low,'' Dodie Perlt said. ``We're a little more comfortable now -- no more kids in college -- so we haven't suffered like we did back then.''

To the owners of historic St. Paul mansions, an extra few hundred dollars in utility costs may be a drop in the bucket. Nonetheless, a couple of Summit Avenue area residents said they are trying to conserve energy usage -- as much for the environment as to lower costs.

``We've really made an effort to insulate the house, but I would guess that we're going to put on more sweaters this year than last,'' said Charles Skreif, who lives in a 3,800-square-foot home on Goodrich Avenue. Skreif couldn't recall what he paid to Xcel Energy this month. But at night, he said, the thermostat gets set back to 58 degrees.

The Lindsays, who live nearby in an 1893 Victorian, use an energy-efficient thermostat that can be set to lower the temperature automatically when no one is home. They had the thermostat installed about 12 years ago after an energy audit suggested ways to cut back.

``This is really hurting people on fixed incomes the most,'' said Lynn Lindsay, who like his neighbor doesn't keep close track of the gas bill. ``The rest of us are just hoping our salaries will keep pace with inflation.''

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-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 28, 2000