Aside from a series of Pacific rainstorms and wind that buffeted all of the West Coast over the New Year’s holiday, Pacific Gas and Electric Company said late last Friday its residential natural gas utility customers could expect a 43.5% rate hike this month compared to January 2005. PG&G’s utility attributed Midwest and Northeast storms last month for “significantly” increasing wholesale natural gas prices, meaning its average retail gas bill would be about $156/month in January.

“December storms in the eastern United States caused natural gas prices to jump dramatically, as the cold weather increased demand for the fuel to heat homes and businesses,” PG&E said in an announcement before the New Year holiday weekend, forewarning its customers. “America’s natural gas market remains very fragile and additional cold snaps anywhere in the country could cause prices to rise.”

PG&E’s utility also cited what it called the “lingering damage caused by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina” to Gulf of Mexico energy infrastructure as contributing to the continued high prices. It said 20% of available gas supplies from the Gulf region was still inaccessible.

“PG&E will be able to partially temper rising gas prices in January by tapping into gas currently held in storage, which was purchased during warmer months when commodity prices were less than current spot market costs,” said the combination utility, which was grappling with flooding, high winds and the impact from several weeks of Pacific storms on its electrical system the day after New Year’s Day.

In predicting that natural gas rates would continue to be “well above” last winter’s totals, the PG&E utility urged its customers to take advantage of energy-saving incentive programs offering 20% bill discounts for the following month after a 10% reduction of a residential or small business bill compared to the same month last year.

The average monthly bill last January was $109, PG&E said, compared to the estimated average residential natural gas bill this month of $156.

©Copyright 2006Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news reportmay not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in anyform, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.