Northwest Iowa — We’ve been hearing about natural gas shortages in the wake of this week’s widespread cold snap. And that could lead to higher prices.
We talked to MidAmerican Energy spokesperson Geoff Greenwood about that possibility.
(as said) “It has been an extraordinary week across the country and it’s no different here in Iowa. It is safe to say that gas prices… natural gas prices on the open market have gone up quite substantially over the last week, but things are still fluctuating. Bottom line though is that at this time it’s too early to quantify how the week’s events might affect upcoming customer utility bills, and we know that the result is going to be higher bills, but I don’t have a number for you at this point. We are still trying to figure out how this is going to impact our customers. Keep in mind that we pass on to customers only the cost that we pay for a natural gas that we supply to our customers without a markup.”
He says they also take steps to deal with things like this that cause great market fluctuation.
(as said) “We use gas storage, liquid natural gas storage… We also enter into gas contracts in advance. All these things try to mitigate wild market fluctuations, and we try to mitigate that as much as we can.”
He says they are also working with the Iowa Utilities Board and the Iowa Governor’s office.
(as said) “…try to figure out some ways that we can try to help our customers pay bills or perhaps spread these costs over a longer period of time. And keep in mind that not only is the cost of fuel a factor, but also how much the customer uses. So there are things that our customers can do to help lower their bills or keep them in check a little bit more and that’s by using measures to use less energy such as turning down your thermostat a few degrees, making sure your furnace filter is up-to-date, opening your curtains if it’s sunny out and closing them at night to help insulate around your windows, and there’s a long list of suggestions that we have for our customers that we have put on our website.”
Greenwood says conserving energy not only helps keep your bill lower, but it helps keep prices lower too.
The United States has also been dealing with a power shortage as well. Interestingly enough, Greenwood says that is also at least partially due to natural gas issues. He says around here power companies depend on several sources from wind to coal to natural gas and even some nuclear and hydroelectric. But in the South, more of the power is generated by natural gas. But the infrastructure down south is often not able to handle the kinds of cold temperatures they have experienced down there. Experts say their natural gas infrastructure, from pumping it out of the ground to gas-fired power plants were unprepared for widespread low temps.
