Article
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'H')eat misers
High gas bills lead Iowans to look for savings
By FRANK VINLUAN REGISTER BUSINESS WRITER
Natural gas prices are slowly coming down, but you might not notice it from your bill.
The average residential bill for January for natural gas and electricity was 12 percent higher than in January 2004, according to MidAmerican Energy.
The average bill last month was $157.87, the utility said.
Homeowners: Before you faint when you compare that with your bill, it's important to note that the average is skewed by apartments, which typically have much smaller bills for natural gas and electricity.
The price of natural gas on the open market has come down from the peaks that followed Hurricane Ivan in the fall, but current prices are still higher than they were a year ago.
Many Iowans are coping by adjusting thermostats and replacing old, inefficient heating equipment.
Skywalker Payne , 54, moved with her husband from Texas to Des Moines in 2000. She said it took awhile to adjust to Iowa winters, but now they think nothing of turning down the heat.
"We hardly ever put our thermostat above 68 during the day," Payne said. "At night, we have it down as low as 61."
Payne also participates in budget billing. The program allows consumers to pay the same amount each month, based on average energy use from the previous year. Payne said her energy expenses haven't increased because "it really hasn't been that cold."
The Energy Information Administration said Thursday in a weekly report that "unseasonably moderate temperatures" have contributed to falling natural gas prices. The amount of natural gas in storage is 20.9 percent higher than the five-year average, and spot prices in the past week fell 11 cents to $6.11 per million British thermal units.
The high prices early in the heating season prompted some people to make adjustments to help keep bills from climbing.
Leilani Shaw, 44, of Redfield installed new windows and doors last year, anticipating a cold winter. She said her two-story home, built in 1900, needed to be made more energy efficient.
"I can definitely see a difference in the bedrooms that have new windows," she said.
At Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines, when the faithful stream in, heat slips out. Bob Mann , the church's director of administration, realized that church and community meetings during the week contributed to energy expenses that reached $15,000 in January. The budget for the entire year is $83,000.
In Sunday's church bulletin, Mann told members about new weather stripping and dialed-down thermostats. He's also seeking other suggestions.
"Our intent is not to scale back" activities, Mann said. "It's part of being a Christian community, to share what you have."
Drake University is seeing savings from an $11.5 million campus-wide equipment upgrade, which included new boilers, ducts and pipes. Energy use has been cut in half, said spokesman Daniel Finney. The new equipment is expected to eventually pay for itself in savings.
"The equipment was just outdated," Finney said. "The boilers were more than 40 years old."
Drake also saved money by not locking in its natural gas supply at a high price, Finney said. Large business and industrial customers can contract with a supplier or marketer to buy fuel for a specified period of time. The customer does not buy the fuel directly from MidAmerican but does pay the utility a delivery charge. Drake had entered such contracts before, but university officials thought prices were too high last year and declined to lock in a price.
Iowa Health System, which owns three Des Moines hospitals, bet the other way and locked in for a more expensive rate than is now available, said facilities manager Dan Garrow . When the contract expires in April, Garrow said, he will shop around for better rates.
"It's really a guessing game," he said.
The Des Moines school district was ahead of the game and locked in a price before hurricanes in the South damaged energy operations, leading to a spike in prices, said Duane VanHemert , the district's executive director of facility management.
VanHemert said schools also are saving money with computerized systems that automatically turn off lights and turn down the heat in unoccupied areas.
Overall, natural gas prices are still higher than they were a year ago, and those higher prices take their heaviest toll on Iowa's poor, said Jerry McKim, director of the state's Bureau of Energy Assistance. The office oversees the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, or LIHEAP. McKim expects more than 87,000 households will be awarded help this year, the highest number in at least 14 years.
McKim expects the problem will be worse next winter. President Bush's proposed budget would cut LIHEAP funding by $84.8 million, with Iowa losing $1.5 million.
McKim was in Washington, D.C., earlier this week for a conference of energy assistance officials. He also met with members of Iowa's congressional delegation to make the case for more money. He said that even though the mild winter so far has diverted attention from LIHEAP, demand continues to grow.
"The need for the program is becoming less connected to severe weather, and it's more reflective of the growing gap between income and energy prices," McKim said.
"I think I notice the gasoline prices more than the natural gas. I would say that's the biggest fluctuation. . . . My house isn't that big so it doesn't really bother me. Plus, I use budget billing, so I spread out the cost through the year."
- Linda Raymond, 60, Indianola
"Plastic on the windows, keeping the thermostat down. I've always done it. I've got a fireplace, and I'm burning wood. I'm just keeping it hot enough to keep that thermostat from kicking on."
- Victor Shields, 46, Hartford
"I have noticed the price. We have installed new windows, new front door and back door. We did it because we heard the prices were going up, and we thought we better get some new windows. We live in a 1900 home, so it was in need of upgrading anyway."
- Leilani Shaw, 44, Redfield
"I've been on budget billing, and they haven't raised my budget billing in over a year. . . . I was thinking that come winter, they were going to raise it real high, and they actually dropped it $1. So we've been real fortunate.
- Skywalker Payne , 54, Des Moines
"It seems the energy prices have been the same as last year. I haven't really noticed it much. . . . Our heat bills haven't really been that much different.
- Mike Honsey , 27, West Des Moines
Heating fuels survey:
JAN. 18 FEB. 14 CHANGE
Natural gas $6.14 $6.03 -$0.11
Propane $1.24 $1.24 no change
No. 2 heating oil $1.56 $1.60 +$0.04
Source: Iowa Department of Natural Resources
by BabyPeanut » Sat 29 Jan 2005, 21:27:00 
