Low temps mean high bills

No matter how cold, how snowy, how miserable Nebraska's weather, Ed Vinovskis lives, sometimes uncomfortably, by his self-imposed “50-degree plan.”

That is, despite the last few weeks' subzero temperatures and howling arctic winds, Vinovskis keeps his Omaha home heated to no more than 50 degrees.

Vinovskis doesn't enjoy bundling up in thick socks, a hooded sweatshirt and sweatpants when he gets home from his job at the W. Dale Clark Library. He does it to control his consumption of natural gas and ultimately to save money on his heating bill.

“You don't do this because you enjoy the cold,” said Vinovskis, who lives near 30th and Cuming Streets. “For some people, like me, everything comes down to dollars and cents. It's a money thing.”

Between now and early February, depending on their billing cycle, Nebraska and Iowa customers of the Metropolitan Utilities District, Black Hills Energy and MidAmerican Energy could receive eye-popping heating bills because of record cold weather.

People like Vinovskis on level-payment plans, which all three utilities offer to spread out heating costs over a 12-month period, could be hit later. If level-payment customers don't limit natural gas usage during cold spells, their assessments could be adjusted upward for the next period.

Consumers shouldn't be surprised to see monthly bills as much as $200 higher than normal, depending on the size of their homes, amount of insulation and thermostat settings, spokesmen for the three utilities said.

Sherry Forrest, a 63-year-old MUD customer, said her monthly heating bill typically is about $100, but it can skyrocket into the $300 range during extremely cold months.

“I haven't gotten my latest bill yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if it jumps a couple hundred (dollars),” she said.

Unexpectedly high heating bills can be a major crisis for financially strapped homeowners, and officials with government and private energy-assistance programs say they have seen increases in the number of people unable to pay their bills this winter.

The federal Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program helps low-income individuals and families pay their utility bills, especially those who must use a large percentage of their incomes to keep their homes heated to a safe temperature.

Last year, $44 million was distributed to about 44,000 Nebraska households, mostly during the winter and summer.

A comparable amount will be paid this year, said Todd Reckling, a program director for the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the energy assistance program.

“We have been seeing an increase in requests thus far this year because of the weather conditions,” said Jeanette Harris of the Nebraska program.

“The majority of our clients are working with fixed incomes, so if bills go up, they can't meet that.”

The Iowa program helped 71,693 households from October through December, an 8 percent increase over 2008, and it expects to exceed the total of 95,234 households served from October 2008 through April 2009. Comparable statistics were not immediately available for the Nebraska program.

“I would not be surprised if we ended up seeing a 10 percent increase over last year,” said Jerry McKim, chief of the Iowa bureau. “This is more than just a low-income phenomenon; the economy has a lot to do with it.”

As of Jan. 1, 2,454 MUD customers were on the brink of losing service because of nonpayment, according to the utility. That's about 10 percent more than the 2,212 households facing shut-off on Jan. 1, 2009.

About 255,580 natural gas and electric accounts were past due among MidAmerican Energy, Black Hills Energy and Alliant Energy customers, which account for about 75 percent of Iowa utility users. That's the most since 1999, said McKim, who keeps statistics on the utilities.

“That tells you that there are unprecedented numbers of people in the midst of an Iowa winter failing to keep up with their energy bills,” McKim said.

According to the National Weather Service in Valley, the period of Dec. 1, 2009, through Jan. 12, 2010, was the fourth-coldest in Nebraska since the weather service started keeping records in 1870, meteorologist Scott Dergan said. The average temperature during that time was 15.5 degrees. By comparison, the average temperature for the coldest period on record, in 1984, was 13.2 degrees.

Jan. 6 was the only day between Dec. 1, 2009, and Jan. 12, 2010, when Nebraska temperatures didn't dip below zero at some point during the day or night, Dergan said. On the coldest day during the period, Jan. 4, the actual temperature, excluding wind chill, dropped to 20 degrees below zero.

“It's relatively uncommon to have that sustained cold,” Dergan said.

The 14 to 21 inches of snow covering most of eastern Nebraska and western Iowa has helped keep temperatures down, he said. When there is sun, the snow absorbs it, which might cause melting but doesn't allow the air to warm, Dergan said.

Iowa has been colder than normal but less so than Nebraska.

In December, Nebraska was 22 percent colder than normal and 11 percent colder than in 2008, according to records kept by Black Hills Energy, which serves customers in eastern Nebraska and in Iowa. Iowa, meanwhile, had temperatures 11.5 percent lower than the normal average and only 1 percent colder than last year.

One way to manage spikes in winter heating bills is to enroll in the utilities' level-payment plans. Instead of a customer paying for the natural gas used in a particular month, annual usage and cost are spread over 12 months.

To be eligible for the level-payment option, bills must be paid in full and the customer must be in good standing.

Prior to this winter, utility officials expected natural gas bills for the season to drop or remain stable compared with last year. Gas prices were lower on commodity markets because of lower industrial demand, due in part to the recession, and because no major hurricanes occurred to disrupt operations in the Gulf of Mexico.

Fewer residents use electricity to heat their homes, but the Omaha Public Power District on Jan. 7 set a record for the most winter energy usage in a day, said Mike Jones, a spokesman for OPPD. The temperature that day ranged from 9 degrees above zero to 5 degrees below zero.

Contact the writer:

444-1414, ross.boettcher@owh.com

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