Residential heating bills throughout the state have been rising due to colder temperatures and an increase in the price of natural gas.
Jim O'Neal, energy analyst for the Wisconsin Department of Administration since last month, attributed the increase to simple supply and demand economics.
\Demand is putting the pressure on natural gas prices. There's a lot greater demand [this year] because it's a lot colder, so people are buying more natural gas,"" he said.
O'Neal added the United States is not producing as much natural gas as it was last year, contributing to the increase in demand and thus price, which has gone up approximately 21.6 percent compared to last year.
Steve Kraus, a spokesperson for Madison Gas & Electric, partially attributed the higher prices to a lack of discovery of material resources of natural gas in the past several years.
""Exploration in the last seven years has been flat,"" he said.
There also has been some volatility within the natural gas industry due to a few large companies such as Enron getting out of the business, according to Kraus. The natural gas industry has been consolidating due to this instability, creating less competition, another reason for the rising prices, Kraus said.
The increase in heating bills has made housing decisions harder on students looking for places to live, as many landlords require tenants to pay for their own heating.
""[The cost of heating] is a big thing. It's not something you think about when you're in the dorms,"" UW-Madison sophomore Courtney Olson said.
""Not paying for heat [separately] is really nice. It wouldn't make me not live in a house, but I would preferably live in one where the landlord took care of it,"" said UW-Madison senior Megan Stewart.
Kraus, who said that the University of Wisconsin is MG&E's largest customer, warned people not to get too upset when comparing last year's heating bills to this year's. The average temperatures for the winter of 2002 were warmer than the averages so far this year. As the weather gets colder, people use more natural gas and thus their bills are more expensive.
UW-Madison junior Sarah Bertagnoli, who hasn't noticed much of a jump in her heating bill, had a recommendation for other students concerned with rising natural gas prices.
""We keep it down during the day and then turn it up during the night,"" she said.
