Why does Natural Gas Cost so Much?

[joe moving]

the reality is... what you are actually paying is your total monthly bill / the number of therms you used , including all the fluff, since you can't make that go away.

[augiedogie]

Market price for Nat. Gas was extremely low a few years ago. They had found so much that there was an oversupply and that brought down the price. It is was so low that they pretty much stopped drilling because of the excess supply. The cold winter this year wiped out the surplus, so prices are now close to their historically normal prices.

Remember, depending on where you live and how could it was, it's possible you used more this year and that also made your bill higher.

[jlawrence01]

Originally Posted by augiedogie

Market price for Nat. Gas was extremely low a few years ago. They had found so much that there was an oversupply and that brought down the price. It is was so low that they pretty much stopped drilling because of the excess supply. The cold winter this year wiped out the surplus, so prices are now close to their historically normal prices.

There is a great seasonality in natural gas prices. The rates are lowest in the "shoulder seasons" - think April and October. The highest rates come at the peak of the heating season. Most businesses that consume a lot of gas purchase their gas at the lowest price and have the utility store it.

Long winters drive up the price of gas for a while.

[sholomar]

natural gas is by far the cheapest way to heat. Try electricity, fuel oil, or propane.. much more expensive. The only other thing close is wood pellets, but if enough people started using them the price would go up as well.