Natural Gas Prices Go Even Higher

Written by Nickel - 6 Comments

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Late last summer, I wrote about an impending natural gas price hike. Our gas company had written to tell us that our payment under their ‘Equal Payment Plan’ (EPP) would be going up 19%, from $79/month to $94/month. Under the EPP, we pay an equal amount for eleven months (based on expected usage throughout the year) and then, during the twelfth month, we settle up based on actual usage.

Not long after receiving word of the price hike, Katrina and Rita roared into the Gulf and disrupted natural gas production, sending natural gas wholesale prices skyrocketing (along with plain old gasoline). Well, it seems that that the high wholesale prices have now officially come home to roost… We just got a letter from our gas company notifying us that our EPP payment is going up again. This time our monthly payment is increasing to $146/month! Ouch. And we don’t live in a huge house (2000 sq. ft.) or a particularly cold climate. While this increase is probably better than getting hit by a nasty bill at the end of the year when it’s time settle up, I’m still not crazy about our monthly gas bill going up by another 55%. When combined with the previous 19% increase, our payments have gone up 85%/month as compared to last year!!! Time to turn the heat down, I guess.

Published on January 9th, 2006 - 6 Comments
Filed under: Energy, House & Home
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About the author: Nickel is the founder and editor-in-chief of this site. He's a thirty-something family man who has been writing about personal finance since 2005, and guess what? He's on Twitter!

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Comments (scroll down to add your own):

  1. Try living in a larger (3,000 sq. ft.) house in Michigan! Ouch!!!!!!

    Comment by FMF — Jan 9th 2006 @ 7:22 am

  2. Yup! The prices keep rising and we fools keep paying! But then what else are ya gonna do?

    Comment by BlogRank — Jan 9th 2006 @ 9:30 am

  3. Yeah I’m miserable living in my mansion, these natural gas prices are going to kill me. :)

    Actually, it’s all electric in Howard County, Maryland … which is bad when gas prices go up anyway but whatever, can’t control that now can you…

    Comment by jim — Jan 9th 2006 @ 12:10 pm

  4. wow. 85% seems criminal. I mean…has the price of natural gas really gone up 85% over last year?

    Our payments are currently $151/mo (boston, 100 yr old 12000 sq ft house) but I am watching my therm usage via the gas company’s website and its WAY down over last year so I am hoping we’ll get an adjustment DOWN soon. A girl can hope…right?

    Comment by Caitlin — Jan 9th 2006 @ 1:35 pm

  5. What are you all complaining about? According to the government, inflation is perfectly under control. Stop complaining and get back to consuming.

    Comment by Guest — Jan 9th 2006 @ 2:57 pm

  6. 100 year old Bungalow in Atlanta, about 1800 sq ft (really hope last post meant 1200 sq ft and not 12000 sq ft) and my last bill was $391. OUCH. I really need to figure out how to better insulate the beast. My CCF usage was 180, doesn’t that seem high?

    Comment by Ear — Jan 11th 2006 @ 9:28 am

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