CenterPoint Energy is warning customers in its Ohio natural gas territory to prepare for “potential increases in natural gas bills this heating season.”
This year, natural gas commodity costs are expected to increase as demand grows, CenterPoint said.
The average CenterPoint customer paid $94 a month for natural gas service during the 2023-24 heating season (from November 2023 to March 2024).
“With natural gas prices projected to increase this winter, we encourage customers to explore all available resources as soon as they can,” Ashley Babcock, CenterPoint’s vice president, Indiana and Ohio Gas, said in a statement.
Credit: George Frey
Credit: George Frey
Noah Stubbs, a spokesman for CenterPoint Energy, reiterated that natural gas commodity prices are projected to increase. He declined to assign a possible percentage to that increase.
“Last winter customers benefited from lower wholesale natural gas prices due to a less volatile market,” he said.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is also looking for higher prices, with projections of increases of 6% in electric costs and 7% in natural gas prices compared to last winter, if temperatures trend colder.
The annual NOAA winter outlook is calling for “La Niña conditions” in the Pacific Ocean this winter, meaning a possible warmer and wetter winter in Ohio and near the Great Lakes.
“In that region, we expect a return to more normal temperatures that will outweigh the effect of lower energy prices and cause spending on heating fuels to rise by between 2% and 11%, depending on the energy source, in the coming winter,” the EIA said.
CenterPoint said it has several programs designed to help people get through the winter.
You can select a natural gas supplier at CenterPointEnergy.com/Choice, where you should find a list of suppliers and prices.
HEAP Winter Crisis Program: The HEAP Winter Crisis Program provides assistance once every heating season to eligible households disconnected or are threatened with disconnection. Households must fall at or below 175% of federal poverty guidelines to apply. Visit development.ohio.gov or call (800) 282-0880 to learn more.
Percentage of Income Payment Plan Plus (PIPP Plus): PIPP Plus calls for a qualified household to pay 5% of its monthly income for gas service throughout the year. To be eligible, a customer must receive his or her primary or secondary heat source from a company regulated by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO), must have a total household income at or below 175% of the federal poverty level and must apply for all energy assistance programs for which he or she is eligible.
Under a “special reconnect order” approved by the PUCO last month, natural gas customers must pay utilities no more than $175 plus any applicable reconnection charge which cannot exceed $36. If the utility’s reconnect charge is greater than $36, the balance above $36 may be charged to the customer on the customer’s next monthly bill.
CenterPoint Energy delivers natural gas to some 333,000 customers in Montgomery, Greene, Miami, Warren and several other Ohio counties.
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