Customers of Xcel Energy will get relief in their March natural gas bills.
The utility said that thanks to falling natural gas prices and typically warmer weather in March, bills for residential customers are projected to fall by an average of 24 percent. Small-business natural gas bills will drop 23 percent.
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 even middle-class households with oppressive costs.
March bills still will be higher than those of March 2005 — an average of $96 next month compared to $85 in March of last year. Those figures do not include additional charges for electricity, which average about $63 a month for residential customers.
Xcel said its projected prices for natural gas purchases in March will be 16 percent lower than in February. That decrease, combined with typically less heating needs in March, will cause the typical residential gas bill to drop from $126 in February to $96 in March.
Natural gas prices are down because this winter has been warmer than normal, both along Colorado’s Front Range and nationwide. The warmer temperatures have allowed natural gas producers and utilities to place more gas in storage caverns. The resulting increase in supplies has brought prices down from their record highs last year after hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
“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 at sraabe@denverpost.com.
