ONG - natural gas rates - good or bad idea to lock in the rate

[alank2]

I've heard on the radio here and there that natural gas could be in short supply this season, but I have no idea if that is true or not.

I got my ONG bill today and it talks about being able to lock it in within the next week or so...

 

[dennishoddy]

I'm total electric at the house but oil and gas prices are going up. I'd lock in. Typically the prices go up in the winter and down in the summer according to demand.

 

[Podman]

I lock in the rates and also have them average the bill too. You then have about the same bill every month throughout the year.

 

[DRC458]

^^^ What he said. The price they offered to lock in was cheaper than what I'm paying right now and, like Podman, I locked it in a year ago and have also been on averaging for years. If you look at your bill, you will see that the actual cost of the gas is a very small portion of your total bill.

 

[cktad]

It's a gamble as the lock in price can save you money or it can be higher than the normal rate for that period. I locked in once about 10 years ago and it saved me money but the next year it would have actually cost me more at to lock in price.

 

[Shadowrider]

I'm total electric at the house but oil and gas prices are going up. I'd lock in. Typically the prices go up in the winter and down in the summer according to demand.

True, but when you lock, you are locked for a full year so it can bite you come summer time depending on usage.

I've never locked but I just did at $3.15 per dth. At the moment, that's a cheaper rate than November Henry Hub pricing. I checked my statements though this summer and every month was a higher rate, so it's a no brainer considering my usage for last month was just over 1 dth and cost me just over $5. I use so little in the summer it really doesn't matter if I pay $10 per dth.

 

[alank2]

I think I'm going to lock in too, I checked the rate on my last few bills and it was higher on most not locked. Thanks everyone.

 

[swampratt]

I hate the delivery fee I used 3 dollars worth of gas and got charged 25 for delivery.
If I could set it up I would use a portable CNG tank and fill it myself.. but reducing pressure to 1/2 PSI to work in my water heater or furnace.

Friend of mine went all electric and saved money. said natural gas went up in the cold months and electric went down.
I went electric dryer and man that thing dries super quick and did not notice it on electric bill.

 

[SlugSlinger]

Based on reports I am seeing, we are heading below the 5 year average storage levels. As you can see from this graph, the blue line are the current storage and the grey shaded area is the 5 year high and low levels. Oil prices have trended up but NG prices have not. NG is getting very cheap on an energy equivalent comparison to oil. With that being the case, we should see NG usage increase as a cheaper source of energy and if that does happen, NG prices will increase.

 

[SoonerP226]

Friend of mine went all electric and saved money. said natural gas went up in the cold months and electric went down.

I know someone whose house is all-electric. He built it about 15 years ago, and it's insulated to the gills, but his monthly electric bills are usually a little bit more than my combined gas and electric bills. We're both on OEC, FWIW, and our houses have comparable square footage, although mine is at least twenty years older and much less well insulated.

As little as I generally pay for gas over the winter, it doesn't make sense to lock it in. The only exception was the winter of '04 or '05, when NG prices went through the roof and I got stuck with a $200 gas bill for one month...