Cold snap boosts use of natural gas to an all-time high

It figures. When temperatures are down, fuel bills are up. To forewarn customers, Salt Lake-based Questar Gas cautioned Friday that they can expect significant increases in their heating bills, due to colder temperatures this month. And until the deep snowpack in Wasatch Front valleys melts, colder temperatures and higher-than-usual heating bills will likely continue.

The 20 consecutive days of sub-freezing temperatures in January have led to the highest three-week natural gas delivery period in Questar's 75-year history, the company said. And prospects for more of the same are likely unless winter storms come in to wipe out the inversion that has had consumers cranking up the thermostats.

Questar expects customers doing comparisons of their monthly statements will see a marked difference between January 2003 and January 2004.

"If you remember, January 2003 was warm — 25 percent warmer than normal," Questar Gas president Alan Allred said in a prepared statement. "So far, this January has been about 24 percent colder than normal.

"In addition, increases in the cost of gas on the open market have led to rates about 21 percent higher than last January. Unfortunately for our customers, those facts all add up to bills that could be about 60 percent higher than last year, depending on individual usage."

Questar Gas bills by the "decatherm," a measure of the heat content in the natural gas it delivers. According to company data, the average Utah residential customer uses about 19 decatherms in a typical January. This year, that number should reach 23.

This year, a decatherm of natural gas costs $6.85, up from $5.60 a year ago, so consumers will get a double-whammy. Alex Tardy, meteorologist with the National Weather Service's Salt Lake forecast office, said the Climate Prediction Center had forecast warmer than normal temperatures for Utah during January.

"They were right for the mountains," Tardy said. The temperature inversion made high altitudes much warmer than normal. However, the record snowfall in the valleys, coupled with dominant high pressure, made the valleys much colder than usual.

Tardy said the CPC is predicting even chances now that February will have temperatures normal for the period or above. Unless there is a continual string of regular snowstorms, any dry spell will most likely end in an inversion with more fog and haze. Only some 50-degree days, followed by rainstorms to melt the snow, will prevent that scenario.

He said February to April temperature predictions for all of Utah are above normal.

However, "As long as we have the snowpack here, that will be tough to do," Tardy warned.

The forecast for today is for continuing haze until a storm tonight blows out the current inversion A 60 percent chance of snow is predicted, with one to three inches possible.

---

E-mail: lynn@desnews.com; jnii@desnews.com