Natural Gas -- Regulated -- or -- De-Regulated

[a440]

Hello everyone,
I just wanted to give everyone a heads up on De-Regulated Natural gas. I am not sure what you have in your area, but in Georgia, it is De-Regulated. This means that you have to pick a provider, and lock in a price per therm. Anyway....long story short...
I fought with Georgia Natural Gas today for about and hour, and wore them out! I pointed out to them that I have been with them for many years, and that they have done well with me, since we were paying the "variable" market price. I told them that I would leave for a competitor of theirs if they did not give me a decent rate per term. Well it paid off. I ended up being transferred to a "supervisor", that told me that everyone is dropping their gas providers left and right, and they would like to keep me. So, I got a monthly service charge of $3.50 and the therm rate of $.99 per therm, and locked this rate in for 12 months.
I have heard that this is going to be a bumpy winter for everyone. If you are not under contract, and have to lock in prices due to de-Regulated rates, give it a try before too much time passes.
Dang, I remember arguing with them when Natural Gas shot up to $.35 cents a therm! Gone are the days of cheap Natural Gas. I can't even use my hair dryer attachment on my Gas Norge dryer anymore for fear of a high gas bill.
Brent

 

[petek]

Natural gas prices last I heard are actually dropping again. At least my provider applied for a reduction just recently. Why they have to apply for a reduction is weird but they do here in Ontario. The company we use is the original gas provider. I'm forever pestered by these so called gas re-sellers using scare tactics to lock people into contracts. Everyone I know who has signed a contract so far has been disappointed because the market price never got up to what the re-sellers said it was going to do and they've been paying more than we have.

 

[jeffg]

It could be worse. Try $3.75/gal for propane. From late fall to early spring our propane bills run $450/mo.

 

[a440]

$3.75 !!!!

Jeff,
That is horrible! Does it get cold in Bolder Creek?
Why in the world is Propane so expensive?
Brent

 

[gansky1]

Nebraska is entirely served by public utilities - water, natural gas and electric. The telephone services are regulated by the state. There were attempts to de-regulate by outsiders ;-) a number of years ago and they failed miserably. Our cost for natural gas per therm is $.6133 so we have pretty competitive rates!

Here are the costs per therm for the last 25 months.

10-02-2008 $.6133
9-02-2008 .8309
8-02-2008 .9548
7-02-2008 1.3158
6-02-2008 1.1761
5-02-2008 1.1414
4-02-2008 .9726
3-02-2008 .9504
2-02-2008 .8982
1-02-2008 .8245
12-02-2007 .8787
11-02-2007 .8753
10-02-2007 .7570
9-02-2007 .6804
8-02-2007 .7314
7-02-2007 .8062
6-02-2007 .8838
5-02-2007 .8661
4-02-2007 .8230
3-02-2007 .8986
2-02-2007 .8717
1-02-2007 .8106
12-02-2006 .9158
11-02-2006 .9151
10-02-2006 .5790

 

[a440]

Greg,
That is Awesome!!!!!
Glad for you guys since it does get so cold there!
In July and August, we paid 1.85 per therm here. When I called and complained about this, they offered me a lock in for 12 months at $1.45! Of course, they blamed it on the hurricanes. What? How crazy! The "supervisor" chuckled and told me that so many people locked in at that price, for fear that it would even go higher in the colder months. I responded with; "Yeah, and I bet they were all on fixed income, how sad of you"!
When I was in my first house living on my own, I remember the days of $.15 a therm. I wanted everything gas!
Hope you guys keep fighting for the regulation!
Brent

 

[jeffg]

Brent, propane is a distilled product (unlike natural gas), so its price is usually close to gasoline.

About 8 months out of the year, nights are cold enough to need heat. There's also the gas water heater, gas stove/oven, dryer etc.

It'll be interesting to see what happens to energy prices, once all the oil industry whores are kicked out of the White House next year.

 

[a440]

Jeff,
Keep up that positive attitude!
I guess Natural Gas or Total Electric is not an option for you?
I feel you pain! Wow!
Brent

 

[sudsmaster]

Jeff,

If you haven't done so already, go through your home and seal all air leaks. Then insulate the ceiling to R45 - and the walls/underfloor as well if you can.

Over here in the East Bay I usually turn the heat on by Thanksgiving and have it mostly off by April. Insulating the home has helped cut the gas usage in half, but of course the rising rates mean the bills have stayed the same. Which reminds me... I still have a bunch of insulation to install under the flooring. Might be a good time to do it now.

I'm wondering, would an electric heat pump be cheaper to heat your home than propane? Boulder Creek is on the coast, so maybe solar isn't the best answer, but I wonder if a wind turbine would help defray your energy costs.

 

[jeffg]

Rich, thanks. It would be cheaper to go with electric heat, but the main focus has been pestering PG&E to add our neighborhood to their natural gas grid. They're only a few blocks away at this point, so it shouldn't be much longer. They've been inundated with this same request from all over our county.

 

[sudsmaster]

In the interim...

There are portable heat exchangers you can buy (I've seen the Soleus brand at Fry's) that you can roll from room to room and attach via a dual hose fitting to a window. They are much more efficient than resistance electric heating and probably more efficient than propane. Cost is about $500 per unit. An added bonus is that they can be used for air conditioning and dehumidification.