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Home > Blogs > Hamilton News and Issues > Archives > 2008 > April > 08
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Up, up and away
The city will increase its natural gas prices by a yet-to-be-determined amount by May 1. This increase will follow the $4.85 a month increase in electric prices that the city announced in March. Rising fossil fuel prices is at least partly to blame on both accounts.
Deputy City Manager Charles Young said that current prices of 83 cents per CCF will remain through the end of the month. However, market prices plus the transportation cost to get the natural gas to Hamilton and the price will be closer to $1 a CCF, he said.
Young said the average Hamilton household uses 835 CCFs a year, with the bulk of that being used between November and March. If my math is correct, the increase will cost the average home about $141 a year.
“The prices are what they are and we have to pass it through,” Young said.
With the heating season now over, the initial impact should be minimal as use will be limited to gas stoves and hot water heaters. Residents on budget billing will likely not see an effect until next year, Young said.
However, Young also said that market indications are that the gas prices will continue to rise and natural gas may have to charge much as $1.10 a CCF by the next heating season. Though, he said the market is very volatile.
“Pick your day that you lock in your price and the next day it’s higher or lower,” he said.
Young said Hamilton has the lowest natural gas rates in Ohio and he predicts that the city will still have the lowest natural gas rates even after the increase. For comparison, Duke Energy uses a rate of about $1.41 a CCF according to numbers provides by the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio.
The JournalNews will continue to update you when the city has concrete numbers. But in the meantime, how is an increase in heating costs going to affect your household? What impact will a loss of $140 a year play in your lives?
Like water
It seems some Hamiltonians are still peeved about the water advisory last week.
Though, response has varied. Resident Jim Coggin informs me, via email, that he gives notification of the advisory a D-. Business owner Terry Schmitt, who closed the Cappuccino Depot on High Street for two days during the advisory, thought the city was using too much precaution. After all, she said, the break was almost in Fairfield. Several people have commented on earlier blog entries that they didn’t receive notification of the advisory until after they drank tap water.
I guess it’s hard to move past something when residents are reminded every time they turn on the tap. Not to mention, that they and their children need water to survive. It seems to suggest that the city should consider its notification methods whether or not current methods are within the boundaries of Ohio law. They are, by the way.
A higher up in Cox Ohio has suggested that the city use the JournalNews and its Internet presence to alert residents.
What do you suggest?
