Sophomore Ryan Abelman adjusts the thermostat at his home in Oxford. (Michael Pickering)
Although snow and ice are unavoidable, one thing Oxford residents won't be seeing this winter is outrageous heating bills.
According to John Stenger of Oxford Natural Gas, prices are projected to be lower than last year, when damage from Hurricane Katrina and other factors contributed to a steep decline in gas availability.
"(Prices) are definitely going to be lower," Stenger said.
For customers of Oxford Natural Gas, their total billed cost during the current period (October-December) should be 50 percent lower than the same period last year. Stenger said it is projected that costs for the January-March 2007 period will be 40 percent lower than the same period last year.
Anthony Ferraro, Miami University's energy management engineer, said the nation's supply of natural gas has been replenished since last year and that total storage for the country was near full recently, causing prices to drop dramatically.
"The university buys gas months in advance," Ferraro said. "When the market took a dip about a month ago, we bought."
Ferraro said due to tight budgets at Miami, the Physical Facilities Department wanted to make sure they knew what they would be paying for gas during the winter, so they bought early and will store the gas until it is needed. He said this is something that local gas companies also do.
"They buy ahead of time so if the market fluctuates they're locked in," Ferraro said.
However Ferraro said gas prices don't affect the university's heating bills too much because 95 percent of the buildings on campus are heated by steam created by burning coal. Miami mostly uses gas for emergency generators, and supplemental electrical production between the peak hours of 11 a.m. and 8 p.m.
Ferraro said students living off campus will see a slight market fluctuation in gas prices throughout the winter because gas companies typically only buy 60 to 80 percent of their gas in advance.
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Stenger explained that total natural gas heating bills are made up of three components: a general service fee, a monthly service fee and the actual gas cost recovery. Stenger said the first two fees have remained the same for Oxford Natural Gas costumers from last year, but the third part is what fluctuates from year to year and month to month - it is the cost of the actual gas and the delivery. He said gas companies are not allowed to make a profit on this third part of the cost; therefore it is determined by the national supply and demand and the location gas is being delivered to.
Weather also plays a role in how much residents pay for heat, as it affects how much they consume.
Ferraro said last year most customers lucked out because even though there was a shortage and high prices, the winter was mild.
"If we had a cold winter we would have really been in trouble," he said.
Jeffrey Diver, executive director of the Butler County group Supports to Encourage Low-Income Families (SELF), said although natural gas prices have been lower so far this heating season, the group has given out more aid than last year to low-income families in need of money to pay utility bills for the first two weeks in November.
"So far this year (Nov. 1-14), we have served 503 households," Diver said.
He said that number puts them on par with last year's total 3,400 people served through the group's Home Energy Assistant Program (HEAP), a 10-year record high.
Diver said the correlation may be due to a higher number of cold days so far this month in comparison to last November.
Luckily the program's funds are allocated from the federal government based on how many people they served last year.
"Our allocation this year is a lot more than what we started with last year," Diver said.
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