Driven by a sizable drop in natural-gas prices and expected warmer weather next month, average residential heating bills are projected to drop by 24 percent from February, according to Xcel Energy.
That means an average March home-heating bill of $96, compared with $126 in February.
The bill reduction comes from two factors: a 16 percent decrease in Xcel’s natural-gas prices and a projected 14 percent drop in customer usage because of warmer weather.
The price of gas will drop from February’s 82 cents per therm to 69 cents per therm in March. A therm is a measurement of heating content in natural gas.
Because weather typically is warmer in March, consumers are expected to reduce their gas consumption from 120 therms this month to 103 therms in March.
Natural-gas bills for small businesses in March will drop 23 percent to $447.
The decline comes in the wake of record-high heating bills this winter that have forced a major financial burden on poor families and have squeezed middle-class households.
Natural-gas prices soared to historic highs last fall after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. Only a fortunate quirk in winter weather – higher-than-average temperatures on Colorado’s Front Range and nationwide – has kept home-heating costs from exacting an even greater toll.
But lower bills in March will come as small comfort to Shannon Heit, a single, unemployed mother of two whose Bear Valley home has racked up an unpaid utility bill of $900 this winter.
“I don’t hardly keep my heat on at all anymore,” she said. “It’s been a pretty tough winter.”
Heit received $300 in bill-paying assistance last fall from Energy Outreach Colorado, but she’s worried about how she’ll pay down the current utility bill, make mortgage payments of $1,400 and cover other household expenses – all with $1,900 in monthly Social Security income.
Next month’s bills for natural gas still will be higher than those of March 2005, which averaged $85. The natural-gas figures are only one part of a customer’s monthly utility bill. There are additional charges for electricity and other items.
Natural-gas prices are down because warmer weather this winter has allowed natural-gas producers and utilities to place more gas in storage caverns. The resulting increase in supplies has brought prices down from September’s record highs.
“March bills should be more in line with what customers have been paying in previous years,” said Xcel spokesman Mark Stutz. “We’ve had decidedly warmer weather since mid- December, and that has led to downward pressure on prices.”
Staff writer Steve Raabe can be reached at 303-820-1948 or sraabe@denverpost.com.
