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February 20, 2001 Shivering in New Jersey, and Shuddering at the Heating Bills By MARIA NEWMAN

single mother of three in New Brunswick, N.J., endured having her natural gas service cut off because she had fallen behind in her payments and owed the utility company more than $1,000. Her service was reconnected last week after a social service agency helped her with a small grant and negotiated a payment plan for her.

The monthly utility bill at a pizza restaurant in Cedar Grove, N.J., rose to $1,400 from about $1,000 a year ago, but the increase has not been passed on to diners. "You have to look at the big picture," said the owner, Diane Lubrano, who has been at the same location for 30 years.

The Paramus School District lowered its thermostats two degrees, to 68, to avoid a possible sixfold increase in its energy bills this winter after its contract with a private natural gas company expired. At first, parents bundled up the children more than usual, but now the students barely notice the difference, officials said.

Residential and business consumers were hit with higher heating costs after New Jersey's four natural gas companies were granted rate increases in the fall because of higher wholesale prices. The increased rates, combined with a cold winter, have hit consumers like a one-two punch.

Middle-class and wealthier consumers are grumbling about the increasing cost of heating, but are paying their bills, or putting on sweaters and turning down thermostats. But for consumers on fixed incomes, or for those with lower salaries, the increases are a hardship.

"It's a matter of buying food for their children or paying the utility bill, and some of them choose to buy the food," said Steve Rivera of the Puerto Rican Action Board in New Brunswick. His agency works with the Home Energy Assistance Program, a federally financed program that provides subsidies to low-income and elderly residents having trouble paying their utility bills. It was his agency that helped the mother of three arrange for her gas service to be reconnected last week.

All over the country, rapid increases in the cost of home heating oil, propane and natural gas have prompted more people to seek help with their utility bills, according to the National Energy Assistance Directors' Association, whose members oversee assistance programs. A survey the association released last week showed that requests for help had risen 26 percent from a year ago.

In New Jersey, those requests were up 25 percent, while they rose 21 percent in both New York and Connecticut.

New Jersey's Board of Public Utilities granted rate increases from 16 to 20.5 percent to all four gas companies in the fall, and allowed additional 2 percent increases in December and in January. If wholesale prices continue to rise, utilities have permission to raise rates another 2 percent per month through April.

Officials at Public Service Electric and Gas, the state's largest natural gas supplier, with 1.6 million customers, said that the higher rates, combined with the colder winter, had meant that the average customer's gas bill for November and December combined increased 44 percent from a year ago, to $193 from $134.

The utility company has also reported a 65 percent increase in calls from consumers questioning their bills this year, officials said.

"It was sticker shock, really," said Joe McNulty, an analyst in the P.S.E.&G. customer relations division. "Some of them are commercial customers calling, saying they're surprised that their bills doubled, say from $1,000 last year to $2,000 one month this year."

Ms. Lubrano, who owns Poppa's Pizza in Cedar Grove, said she would no more pass along the higher cost of heat than she would the higher price of lettuce or cheese, unless the price continued to climb.

"If it stays like this for a couple of years, or maybe even one year, then you have to do something, of course," she said.

At the Elizabethtown Gas Company, which provides service to 250,000 homes, customer calls doubled in the last few weeks compared with the same period a year ago, said Chris Reardon, a company spokesman.

The volume has been so high, he said, that the company scheduled a special training program last weekend. Representatives at Elizabethtown, like those at other gas companies, will be instructed to tell customers about programs like Home Energy Assistance and New Jersey Shares, one that helps families regardless of their income.

They will also tell consumers that conservation measures and home improvements can lower heating costs.

In West Caldwell, Bob McLeod bought new windows for his 80-year- old home to help keep his heating bills manageable.

On Saturday, Mr. McLeod, president of a telecommunications business, caulked nail holes in the wooden casings of the windows that contractors had installed last week.

He said that while the new windows would not pay for themselves right away, he could already feel the difference.

"Before, you could feel the wind coming down the stairs from up here, because the old windows were so leaky," he said from his daughter Julia's bedroom. "It feels warmer up here already."

The Paramus School District lowered its thermostats when faced with a sixfold increase under a new contract with a private natural gas company.

The district was offered a renewed contract by Gas Mart of Pennsylvania, but it would have raised the total winter heating bill to about $1.2 million, up from about $200,000 for all of last winter. "We gasped," said Jerome Bohnert, the district's business administrator. The school district tried to find a better offer, but finding none, returned to P.S.E.&G., which had been its supplier before the contract with Gas Mart. P.S.E.&G.'s rates could raise the district's total winter bill to $800,000. But by lowering the thermostats, district officials hope to cut that amount by about 10 percent.

"I'm wearing a sweater right now," Mr. Bohnert said from his office last week. "But we don't have a lot of complaints."

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/02/20/nyregion/20HEAT.html?printpage=yes

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 20, 2001

Answers

Martin, this just outrages me about the number of people really all over the US that are having to face these problems with high bills.! Thanks for the article.

-- Tess (webwoman@iamit.com), February 21, 2001.

One thing it forces people to do, though, is finally start taking measures to conserve. The energy crisis will be self-correcting IF we take permanent instead of temporary measures to conserve. Of course anything we do to conserve will be offset by our constantly exploding population thanks to the liberal "let the world have a chance at the American dream theme" or more commonly known as, "whoever sneaks in to the U.S. gets to stay because all of our ancestors were immigrants".

Most important of all is that we continue to blame OPEC and/or utility companies for our shortsightedness and willingness to continue to grow no matter what the cost. Just picture the problems we'll face when we've got 400 million people in conjunction with global warming. The problem is, I'll still be around to experience it. However, I expect to have a corn burning stove, wind and solar electrical generation and my own reserve to insulate myself from the pain of overpopulation.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@altavista.com), February 21, 2001.

Guy, I certainly share your opinions on gaining our own sources of power, etc.. It's the only thing that is sensible.. We cannot simply be at the mercy of them! However, I still feel an overwhelming sorrow for these people who are faced with these high bills.. It seems like to me that these rate hikes have hit us in such a short time though doesn't it to you? What's it been about 3 months ago and BOOM.. Kind of like out of the blue....

Anyway, you're right about alt energy/self-sufficiency.

-- Tess (webwoman@iamit.com), February 21, 2001.