Consume

Economic recovery and hot weather in the Gulf Coast and Southeast regions could boost power demand enough to consume about half of the gas that Barclays Capital analysts had expected to go to coal-fired power generation displacement this year during storage injection season, the firm said Wednesday.

Consumers are expected to consume more natural gas at a higher price to heat their homes this winter, resulting in a 10% hike in household gas bills over last winter, according to the Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) Short-Term Outlook for October and Winter Fuels Outlook.

As a blustery cold front continues to consume the eastern half of the U.S., natural gas futures on Monday appeared to be picking up where they left off on Friday — looking towards higher price levels. However, after January natural gas futures reached a high of $14.450 just before 1:20 p.m. EST, the prompt month dropped off, recording a low of $13.500 before settling at $13.660, down 27.1 cents on the day.