Natural gas prices up across the state

Gas heating prices are higher than last year's.
HARRISBURG (AP) -- The state's 10 largest gas utilities are charging higher prices for natural gas this month than they were a year ago, while customers in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Harrisburg are paying record prices for natural gas, according to state regulatory figures.
Charging the highest rates for home-heating gas is Philadelphia Gas Works at $9.88 per thousand cubic feet, followed by $9.75 per thousand charged by Equitable Gas of Pittsburgh and $9.27 per thousand charged by UGI Utilities of Reading.
Record prices
All three prices are record highs for those companies, which serve about 1 million of the state's more than 2.8 million gas customers, including households, businesses, and factories.
Companies say they are not charging more for delivery, but simply passing on the increasing cost of wholesale gas.
"People are seeing some really big increases and it has to do with nothing else than the cost of gas," said Doug Oliver, a spokesman for Philadelphia Gas Works, a municipally owned utility that serves about 500,000 customers in Philadelphia.
Under state regulations, gas companies in Pennsylvania can profit on the cost of delivery, but not on the cost of purchasing wholesale gas.
Supplies tightened
Home-heating gas supplies have tightened and driven prices up because natural gas is increasingly used as fuel for power plants and because there are fewer easily accessible gas fields, analysts say. Retail prices in Pennsylvania spiked in 2001, then fell before rising steeply again in the last 18 months.
For instance, a UGI customer will pay a monthly heating bill of $113.60, based on usage of 8,500 cubic feet a month. A year ago, that same bill was $98.87, company spokeswoman Deborah Leuffen said.
The state's consumer advocate, Irwin "Sonny" Popowsky, said that, while recent price increases and volatility appear to be leveling off, gas futures remain high and no drop-off in price appears likely any time soon.
Nationally, the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, estimated that the price of gas for home heating will be more than 7 percent higher than last winter. The EIA projects that consumption will be nearly 9 percent higher this winter.
With a cold snap in December, natural gas prices have risen this month, the EIA said. That could mean rate increases by the three Pennsylvania gas utilities scheduled to make quarterly rate adjustments on Jan. 1.
Increases expected
One of those companies, Columbia Gas, which serves 410,000 customers across southern Pennsylvania, said it expects to increase the rate it charges for gas on Jan. 1.
The rates do not require approval by the state Public Utility Commission before going into effect, but are reviewed annually to ensure that companies are trying to purchase the cheapest available gas, PUC spokesman Eric Levis said.
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