Natural gas costs expected to rise this winter

Turning up the thermostat will cost a bit more this winter.

Federal officials predict Midwest homeowners will pay 10 percent more to heat their homes with natural gas. Colder weather and higher gas costs are expected to push heating costs from October to March to a total of $1,045, up from $938 last heating season.

Much depends, however, on long the mild weather holds out.

“How quickly cold temperatures come in will determine what prices will be,” said Neil Durbin, a spokesman for Dominion East Ohio.

A blast of cold weather early in the season can cause prices to shoot up quickly because gas supplies will be reduced, he said.

The federal Energy Information Administration notes that federal forecasters are expecting overall temperatures to be 4 percent cooler in the continental U.S. this winter, although they still would be higher than the nation’s 30-year average.

Those cooler temperatures are expected to cause Midwest homeowners to use 3 percent more gas this winter than they did last winter, the EIA said. On top of that, the cost of gas is expected to be 8 percent higher than last winter.

For more on this story, see Tuesday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.