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From hiring freezes to cold classes, heating bills hurt Price shock doesn't stop at home: Costs hammer schools, businesses, too By Dina Temple-Raston

and Thomas A. Fogarty USA TODAY

Households slapped with this winter's staggering heating bills have company: Colleges, businesses and other institutions are struggling with energy costs they didn't see coming, and some are cutting back just to keep up.

At the College of William & Mary in Virginia, energy bills spiked 60% in the past several months, adding $1.1 million in costs. The school has a hiring freeze until June 30 to try to recover.

''We have a $200 million-a-year operating budget, so this is a big hit,'' says William Walker, school spokesman.

In frigid Des Moines, building managers at Principal Financial Group devised an unusual strategy to contain heating bills in three office buildings: Leave the lights on around the clock because of the heat they give off.

Katherine Draper, a mechanical engineer who advises Principal on its properties across the nation, says the $2,000 in added electricity costs will save an estimated $40,000 for gas during the 5-month heating season.

Despite the lights-on strategy, the company still will pay 20% more to heat the three buildings this year.

With crude oil hovering at about $30 a barrel, natural gas prices doubling over last year and heating oil prices soaring, the unusually bitter winter of 2001 has conspired to make this the most expensive season to heat in years:

* Greens Greenhouses in Fremont, Neb., paid $10,200 for gas heat in December and January, up 100% from a year ago. ''It's scary,'' says owner Joey Schwanke.

* The Waterloo, Iowa, school district, which budgeted for a 34% increase in heating costs, is keeping classroom thermostats at 68 degrees. ''It's devastating to school districts in the Midwest,'' School Board President Don Hanson says.

* At Langley Air Force Base in Hampton, Va., higher-than-average natural gas prices have added $350,000 to the budget. With a 43% increase in the cost of its natural gas, the base has had to delay or cancel repairs and maintenance.

* The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency has seen heat bills triple at buildings it operates as memorials to Abraham Lincoln, Ulysses S. Grant and others. ''We're like any average homeowner and tighten our belt,'' says spokesman David Blanchette.

Natural gas is the biggest culprit. Its price has soared. With more than half of the nation's households using natural gas to keep warm, millions will pay 50% more for fuel this winter than last.

That's what happened at William & Mary. Its own power plant supplies 50% of what the campus needs for hot water and steam. But the school uses the spot market for the other half.

Luckily, the coldest snap hit while students were on winter break, says David Shepard, associate director of facilities. But now, he says, ''We're hoping the weather warms up.''

http://www.usatoday.com/usatonline/20010222/3086736s.htm

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), February 22, 2001