High heating bills hit home in Utah

Despite the snow outside your window, it's been a fairly balmy winter along the Wasatch Front (remember that tropical 53 degrees on Christmas Eve?). But even nature's largess hasn't meant a heating bill Elva Amodt can afford.

The last time we checked in on Amodt in late November she was dreading the Questar bills that would be arriving once winter really settled in. Now it's turned out that despite warmer-than-average temperatures in late December and early January, Amodt had reason to worry. Her home is only 600 square feet — and still her latest bill was $128.

"I love to shower every day, but I've been waiting every other day to save on my gas bill," Amodt says. "And I try not to cook too much." She keeps the thermometer at 65.

Natural gas prices are 38 percent higher this winter because of rate increases approved by the Utah Public Service Commission: a 20.3 percent increase starting Nov. 1, on top of a 14.4 percent rate increase effective last June and another 3.2 percent increase that reflects the expiration of a previous gas-processing refund offered to customers.

The Deseret Morning News is following three families this winter to assess the impact of the rate hikes on consumers. The price of gas was in the news again earlier this month when Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. sent letters to federal regulators and the U.S. Senate formally requesting investigations into whether there has been market manipulation of natural gas pricing.

Jim and Tammy Engebretsen, who live with seven children in a well-insulated 8,000-square-foot house in Provo, recently received a heating bill of $440, the highest they've seen yet, despite the fact that the Engebretsens turn their heat off at night. Our third family, Paige Bigelow and Michael Jones and their two sons, have just moved into a remodeled 3,000-square-foot Tudor in Sugar House. Their January bill was $260, more than they had expected.

In her 12-foot-wide trailer near Redwood Road, 72-year-old Elva Amodt is already resigned to the fact that she won't be able to pay her bill by the Jan. 31 deadline. Her fixed income consists of $855 a month from Social Security and a monthly food box from LifeCare, a program that helps low-income seniors stay in their homes. With car insurance due this month, too, there's not enough left over.