I have gas heating, and my bill for a very cold month is less than half of what it has been in the past.

It isn't as cold down here as up north (16 F at the moment), so hopefully my northern friends (yes, including you Canadians, I love curling and Moosehead) are on gas heat so that even though you are bedeveled by the snow and ice and freeze, at least your heating bill isn't adding to the misery.

Even those using electrical heat get a benefit if their power comes from a plant that burns gas. Clean, sweet, cheap, gas.

Thank goodness for fracking.

• RE: Thank goodness for fracking,jbug, 12:12 PM, 01-22-14
  • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,kingfish, 01:20 PM, 01-22-14
    • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,Estee, 09:12 AM, 01-23-14
      • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,kingfish, 09:53 AM, 01-23-14
        • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,Estee, 10:05 AM, 01-23-14
          • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,Snidget, 10:55 AM, 01-23-14
            • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,kingfish, 01:39 PM, 01-23-14
              • RE: Thank goodness for fracking,Snidget, 01:50 PM, 01-23-14

My gas bill isn't going down! I'm dreading seeing it this month

I was dreading mine too. But got a pleasant surprise.

Hope you do too.

Due to increased demand, natural gas prices are up by roughly eight percent, with that number expected to continue increasing regardless of environment-wrecking extraction method.

So in other words, frack off.

I assume you read that in a local news account? Or maybe they were referring to gasoline?

Because natural gas price here is definitely cheaper than it has been. Significantly so.

This is one claim that is not subject to conjecture or interpretation, it can examined on a personal basis and in a black and white context by simply reading the bill at the end of the month. A bill that is about half of what you would expect is either because of decreased usage or because of decreased cost. Or both.

With the weather we've experienced, do you think there is any likelihood that usage has gone down?

With cheaper gas it's no wonder that usage would increase and produce local shortages. So I'm assuming (again) that your reporter was looking a localized situation.

It was reported as a national average increase. CBS News, I believe. So some areas might be lower, but overall, the cost is up.

Each state tends to regulate those prices separately so it is very possible for one state to go down while the average goes up. It isn't completely free market, and it probably depends on who the gas companies have bought off vs who else bought which politicians in any given state.

Yeah. And there is a bureaucratic time delay required for each price adjustment, so the increases/decreases we see now may very well be in response to conditions some months ago. That would mean that next summer I’ll see price increases caused by this winter’s conditions. Oh well.

Regardless, I'm presently paying significantly less, and am grateful for the increased production provided by better mining techniques. I'd like think that eventually the increased supply of natural gas will translate to lower costs for all of us nationwide, but the history of gasoline pricing casts a dark cloud over that prediction.

Just hoping this month's less isn't because they couldn't get by to do the measurements so just did a low ball guesstimate based on some calculation.

Occasionally that has happened to me, but more when they didn't have any remote sensing and it was a guy who had to read the meter each month. Then you get the shocker a bill or two later when they finally get to your place and correct for last month or two being way above average usage.