Noting that a normal temperature winter could bring a 20-30% increase to its customers’ natural gas bills, Piedmont Natural Gas warned that a colder than normal period could send those bills much higher.

While not expecting a supply shortage this winter in its market, the Charlotte-based natural gas utility said growing demand and a tight supply forecast are contributing to higher national wholesale gas prices.

To address this issue, the company said it is seeking the adoption of policy that would expand access to gas. “Our nation’s elected officials need to enact a sound national energy policy which promotes access to and delivery of our abundant domestic gas resources to meet this growth in market demand,” said CEO Thomas E. Skains.

Skains noted that the current gas price on the NYMEX commodities exchange is above the $5.00/MMBtu range, significantly above the historical summer price. Piedmont said the high summer and winter prices are attributable to greater demand associated with the refill of storage fields which are below normal inventory levels as a result of last winter’s colder than normal weather, increased requirements to serve new or converted electric power plants fueled by natural gas and the lack of exploration and development efforts to meet the increased market demand.

Noting that changes in wholesale gas costs are passed through to the customer for better or for worse, Skains said, “We don’t like higher gas prices at Piedmont Natural Gas anymore than do our customers. Higher prices reduce retail demand for natural gas, increase our operating expenses, and challenge our efforts to maintain good customer relations.”

Piedmont Natural Gas is primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to 740,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, making it the second-largest natural gas utility in the Southeast.

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