Painful gas bills DU, customers deal with soaring costs

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- By Jean Hindman DAILY Staff Writer

Berval Bennett's $727 utility bill knocked him windless. Record-high gas prices and a record-cold winter gave him a one-two punch.

"This time last year, my bill was $236," he said. "Of course, it was colder this winter, but still … We're going to have to dip into savings to pay for it."

Bennett is one of the lucky ones.

Many customers don't have savings to tap. Instead, they're forced to cut back on food, fun and other bills to pay Decatur Utilities.

Bennett is also unusual in that he can talk about the problem without the use of four-letter words -- or sedatives.

Many DU customers curse their bills and accuse DU of taking advantage of the situation.

"If they just kissed you while they did it, you wouldn't feel so violated," said DU customer Howard Baer.

But is DU really making a killing on high gas prices?

"Somebody's making a killing, but it isn't us," said DU General Manager Kem Carr.

Who's profiting?

The companies that produce the natural gas are making the killing, officials said.

They can charge whatever the market will bear.

For every dollar DU customers paid from November 2000 through February 2001, 58 cents went to gas producers Exxon-Mobil, Shell, Texaco and others.

DU paid them more than $3 million from November to February. DU buys gas from Proliance Energy, a marketing company that deals with gas producers.

U.S. Rep. Bud Cramer, D-Huntsville, is looking into allegations that some of the companies have been price gouging.

The next cut -- 26 cents of each dollar -- went to the companies that pipe the gas here -- Tennessee Gas Pipeline, Southern Natural Gas and Midcoast Interstate Transmission. DU paid them more than $1.3 million to transport gas here from November to February. Pipeline officials say they are not raking it in.

"It's not us," said Mark Limbaugh, director of marketing development for Southern Natural Gas. "Our rates for transporting gas have remained flat or gone down in the past six years."

Pipelines can't simply charge whatever they want to move gas. Their rates are set by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

DU took 13 cents of each natural gas dollar spent from November to February.

The remaining 3 cents of each dollar went to the city's General Fund, where it will be spent to operate the city.

Getting an earful

It has been a long winter for DU customers and the cashiers who listen to them.

"You want to get mad at somebody," Bennett said. "But if you rationally think about it, you know it is not the local utilities. Yet, you feel like you have been cheated because of the dramatic increase."

DU tries to work with customers by allowing them to make partial payment on the due date and the balance two weeks later.

"It seems to really be helping people," said Customer Service Supervisor Miles Wright. "Our customer-service staff has just done an outstanding job trying to make people happy. I think people appreciate us working with them."

Armed guards?

DU customers aren't the only ones getting surly these days.

Huntsville Utilities stepped up security at its two payment centers. HU hired two off-duty police officers in February.

Officials made the decision after HU announced a 61 percent rate increase for natural gas customers effective Jan. 31. That hike came on the heels of a 15 percent increase in December.

DU has no plans to do that.

"I don't see us needing an armed guard in our lobby," Wright said.

On the upside, warmer temperatures are on the way. That should trigger lower bills and better moods. Still, it's tough for customers to be forgiving when they're still paying for winter well into spring.

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/010304/gas.shtml

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 04, 2001

Answers

Good morning Martin.
I've had painful gas and I can tell you
it's no fun ::::-§

-- spider (spider0@usa.net), March 04, 2001.

Hey Spider,

I think I filed that under the wrong category. Which would you prefer, Explosions or Health Alert.:)

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), March 04, 2001.