California:Gas bills bring chill to valley

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Gas bills bring chill to valley Filed: 12/26/2000

By MARC BENJAMIN

Scripps-McClatchy Western Service

FRESNO — Special evenings in front of a gas-lit fireplace are no longer part of Annette Harvey's life, especially after she received her Pacific Gas & Electric Co. bill this month.

The utility paid 50 percent more for natural gas in December, an increase it passed on to consumers. And it's not going to get cheaper next month. Bills will be 65 percent higher than they were in January 2000 if energy consumption remains the same, according to PG&E officials.

Harvey's bill shot up more than 85 percent between November and December — from $139 to $257 to heat an 1,800-square-foot home.

"There are no more romantic evenings when you are sitting around in your ugly old sweats and your bathrobe," said Harvey, who lives in the Woodward Park area with her husband, Edward. "You have your socks on, so you can't even show off your toenails that you worked so hard on. We even turned off our Christmas lights. We didn't have those running for about a week, but you have to get back into the spirit."

She is not alone.

Throughout the valley, indoor wardrobes are beginning to more closely resemble outdoor garb and Christmas lights are shimmering for limited hours.

"We bought an electric blanket, and we are walking around in sweat pants and black wool socks," said Joe Hebert of Fresno, whose PG&E bill jumped more than 50 percent from November to December.

Michael Tilden said heating his 1,000-square-foot home in the Fresno High area jumped from $45 to $120 in one month.

"We normally keep it between 68 and 70, and we always shut it off at night," Tilden said. "I have a wool shirt on now and wear a sweatshirt around the house.

California utilities have become the Scrooges of this holiday season. But the power companies themselves describe December as a horrific end to a nightmare year that has placed them on the brink of bankruptcy because of some of the highest gas and wholesale electricity prices on record.

"It's been a huge, incredible whammy," said Christy Dennis, PG&E spokeswoman in Fresno.

PG&E has storage space for only 20 percent of the natural gas it needs during winter months, which means most of the gas must be purchased at current market rates, Dennis said, adding that the price for gas should begin to fall by February.

The price increase has been directly related to the state's electricity shortage because natural gas is used to generate electricity.

The California Public Utilities Commission is auditing Southern California Edison and PG&E to examine the utilities' claims of financial distress because of gas and electricity costs. The commission will conduct hearings next week and may raise rates during a meeting Jan. 4.

So conservation is the buzzword.

In Fresno's PG&E offices, lights are dimmed in most work spaces.

http://www.bakersfield.com/oil/Story/264147p-247828c.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), December 27, 2000


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