Natural gas customers in New Brunswick and Nova
Scotia who were facing record bills in January are being warned to expect
another wave of increases in February, the fifth increase in the price of
natural gas since September.
Daniel Picard's natural gas meter didn't
record any unusual consumption at his Fredericton townhouse in January, so his
record natural gas bill caught him off guard.
"I had never seen $400. I have seen maybe $250
or $200," he said. "That's shocking."
Picard is among thousands in the region coping with
runaway natural gas prices that have ambushed northeastern
North America this winter, according to New Brunswick government energy
consultant Jon Sorenson.
In Halifax, Heritage Gas passed along gas price
increases of 110 per cent between September and January. That’s a bargain compared
to New Brunswick, where prices quadrupled for customers of Irving Energy and
quintupled for customers of Park Fuels.
Enbridge executive Gilles Volpe said buying gas on
spot markets this winter has been like high-stakes roulette.
"Within two or three days we saw price swings
from $5 to $75," he said.
Dave Young with New Brunswick's Energy and
Utilities Board is warning even worse is on the way.
"The prices you had in January are very likely
to be higher in February, so consumers should take whatever action they think
they can take to prepare for that," said Young.
Natural gas is the most widely-used form of heating
on the continent, used in about half of all homes. The second-most common —
electricity — is also vulnerable to the price of natural gas because many power
plants that generate electricity are gas-powered.
All the cold air is resulting in a draw-down of
supplies of gas in storage. They’re down 20 per cent from where they were this
time a year ago, the U.S. Department of Energy said last month.
At the same time, drillers are struggling to
produce enough to keep up with the demand for new gas.
The supply situation has been exacerbated by the
fact that in the past, much of the gas production was in the Gulf of Mexico.
There, weather only plays a role during the Atlantic hurricane season in the
summer and fall.
New sources of gas are on the mainland and they’re
vulnerable to freezing, ice and snow. Wells that are not designed for such
extreme conditions can freeze, halting production.