NATURAL GAS Hearings in House to address rising cost

Higher heating prices will affect businesses as well as residential customers.
By JEFF ORTEGA
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
COLUMBUS -- With natural gas home-heating bills projected to go through the roof this winter, Ohio House Republicans are opening hearings on the subject today.
The first step is to get a handle on the magnitude of the problem.
"We want to get information about what the costs are going to be," said state Rep. John P. Hagan. Hagan, an Alliance-area Republican, is chairman of the House Public Utilities & amp; Energy Committee, which is convening hearings on the issue.
The Energy Information Administration, an arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, forecasts a 71 percent increase this winter in the Midwest in natural-gas home heating bills compared to last winter.
"That's substantial," said Hagan. "It becomes a major budget item for people."
House Republican leaders say it's possible that the hearings might spark legislation for low-income home-heating relief or other measures to alert Ohioans to the availability of energy-efficient furnaces or the benefits of preventative weatherization of homes.
Committee's plans
At today's hearing, lawmakers are scheduled to hear from utility companies such as Cinergy Corp., Columbia Gas and Dominion East Ohio, as well as from groups such as Ohio Partners for Affordable Energy, which represents low-income consumers.
In future hearings, Hagan said his committee will hear from other consumer advocates such as the Ohio Consumers' Counsel, as well as the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and representatives from oil and gas companies as well as other business interests.
"We want to get all the different angles," Hagan said.
Ohio Consumers' Counsel Janine Migden-Ostrander, Ohio's residential utility consumer advocate, said Tuesday that she'll testify at future hearings and possibly make a push for heating-bill help for low-income Ohioans.
Residential customers aren't the only ones watching the situation. Big businesses, especially manufacturers, are also eyeing the potential spike in natural gas prices with concern.
"For many manufacturers, and really any manufacturer that has some form of heat involved [in production], they are using large quantities of natural gas," said Randy Leffler, a spokesman for the Ohio Manufacturers' Association.