Natural gas bills' nasty surprise

Posted at 10:17 p.m. PST Friday, Feb. 23, 2001

BY DANA HULL

Mercury News

A near tripling in the cost of natural gas and a cold January have driven Pacific Gas & Electric Co. bills so high that even some customers with modest homes are discovering they owe hundreds of dollars for a single month.

But PG&E said relief may be on the way because the price it is paying for natural gas this month has dropped a bit, and consumption should decline as the weather warms.

``The February rate that we set for customers is slightly lower than January,'' said Staci Homrig, a PG&E spokeswoman. ``We expect that March bills will be lower, but we won't know until the rate is set at the beginning of next month.''

That's little consolation for customers who are stunned at the size of the bills they've received in recent weeks. The company says more than 1,000 people a day are calling to complain, an 80 percent increase from this time last year.

PG&E, whose service area runs from the Oregon border to Bakersfield, estimates that the average residential gas and electric bill is $184 -- up from $104 at this time a year ago --with natural gas accounting for $125 of the total.

But many Bay Area customers are discovering that the gas portion of their bill is higher than that, thanks to the coldest January in more than a decade.

``Will I talk about my bill? Only if you have a Kleenex,'' said Liz Beard of Los Altos, who tried to conserve by hanging quilts in doorways to keep the heat out of her living and dining rooms. Even so, the natural gas portion of Beard's latest PG&E bill was $233, up from $104 the month before.

``I'm a teacher and I just got a raise and now I have to give it all to PG&E,'' she said. ``You might as well take my money out to the curb and burn it -- cut out the middle man.''

Unlike electric rates, which are set by the state Public Utilities Commission, PG&E adjusts bills monthly to reflect changes in the cost of buying and delivering natural gas to customers.

Slight drop in February

PG&E's residential cost of gas increased from 66 cents per therm in January 2000 to $1.08 in December, then shot up 60 percent to $1.74 per therm last month. This month, its cost has dropped to $1.62 per therm, PG&E said. Those figures include the transportation cost of delivering the gas.

One therm of gas provides enough energy to wash about five loads of dishes in a dishwasher. PG&E estimates its average residential customer uses 70 therms a month in the winter.

The skyrocketing cost of gas is being felt most severely by low-income families and senior citizens, who tend to be home and keep the heat higher during the day. Some worry they could have their gas and electricity shut off if they can't pay their bill, something PG&E did to 11,442 people in December. That was up from 10,518 shut-offs a year earlier.

Louis de Give, 84, has a 2,500-square-foot home in Saratoga. His latest PG&E bill: $543, $452 of it for gas.``I've got to have the gas to keep warm,'' said de Give, who lives alone with his two cats. ``My house is paid off and I don't have to worry about anybody but me. But for crying out loud, a lot of poor people cannot afford this.''

But even people living in apartments and mobile homes are feeling the pinch.

Elizabeth Anderson, 42, lives in a two-bedroom apartment in Redwood City. Her current bill is $121.47, $82 of it for gas. The gas portion of her previous bill was $74, so she turned down the heat and sent her children to bed in sweat clothes. Still, her cost of gas rose to almost double what it was two months earlier.

``I don't cook on the stove anymore. I just use the microwave,'' said Anderson, adding that she's worried her children will get sick because it is so cool in the apartment.

Since October, Cora Boomhower has seen the gas portion of her PG&E bill soar from $2.68 to $126. The widow lives in Magic Sand Mobile Home Park in San Jose, and worries that rising PG&E bills will drive her out of her two-bedroom mobile home.``Right now, I don't have the heater on. Haven't had it on all day,'' Boomhower, 84, said.

Many PG&E customers have heeded the call to conserve electricity to ward off rolling blackouts. But the severe spikes in the cost of natural gas came as a surprise.

``When I opened my bill, I said, `This can't be right,' '' Savita Garg of Fremont said. The cold figures: $285 for gas and $93 for electricity, about triple what she and her husband paid this time last year.``We've been thinking about the electricity, and suddenly the gas bill shoots up. They should have told us that this was coming.''

California hardest-hit

Even those turning down their thermostats are shocked. Barbara Cook of Los Gatos said her January gas bill was $103.42. It rose to $131.22 in February, even though she actually used less. ``We used fewer therms the last period, but paid almost $30 more. It's outrageous,'' said Cook, 43.

Natural gas prices have risen rapidly across the nation this winter, but California has felt the squeeze more than any other state. Natural gas, rather than oil or nuclear energy, generates much of the state's electricity supply, which has further taxed natural gas reserves and driven up prices for everyone.

Energy experts talk at length about the market forces that pushed prices up. Consumers, on the other hand, just want the bills to come back to earth.

Take Roger Stringham and his wife, Deborah Carey, who closed off the lower level of their Fremont home, turned down the water heater, and spent $1,000 on insulation after paying $188 for gas in December. Despite the conservation efforts, the gas portion of their next PG&E bill soared to $307.

Outraged, Carey fired off an e-mail message to Gov. Gray Davis.``We're just trying to keep our house warm, and we feel like we're being taken advantage of,'' Carey said. ``We spent all of that money trying to conserve energy, and our gas bill still shot up.''

Stringham, who expected electricity prices to rise but was blindsided by the cost of gas, said he fears the next bill will be worse.``I knew what was coming, but I just had no idea it would be this bad,'' he said.

Staff Writers Marilyn Lewis, Ann Marimow, Ed Pope, Pustata Reang and Gil José Durán contributed to this report.

-- Swissrose (cellier3@mindspring.com), February 24, 2001

Answers

Maybe they should all run out and get electric space heaters :)))

Oh that would just fix that problem, a retail fix eletric price.

-- (perry@ofuzzy1.com), February 24, 2001.

My gas bill last month was $303.00. I'm burning my Y2K wood in the stove in the den. It should cut my bill in half. I'm glad I prepped.

-- John Littmann (littmannj@aol.com), February 24, 2001.