“The main driving factors include an increase in global demand during the ongoing economic recovery and a lagging recovery to the significant drop in U.S. “After hitting 10-year lows during the Covid-19 pandemic, the price of natural gas has risen by approximately 20% – impacting customers nationwide and across the globe,” said Eversource. 1, along with proposed adjustments to other portions of the bill related to safely and reliably operating the gas system. The rate hike, if approved, would take effect on Nov. In Massachusetts, meanwhile, Eversource Energy on Wednesday filed a request with Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) to raise rates to account for the rising cost of gas supplies. Kathy Hochul’s recently announced Home Energy Assistance Program Regular Arrears Supplement, aka HEAP RAS, as well as various assistance programs offered by National Fuel itself. The company also noted that “substantial financial assistance” is available for low-income households to pay their gas bills through Gov. “With an underground delivery system that has proven to be storm-resistant, National Fuel seldom has weather- or storm-related interruptions and has a greater than 99.99% reliability ratio for its gas delivery.” “This coupled with the utility’s diversified purchasing strategy is expected to help mitigate further increases during the upcoming winter as well as meet customer demand even during the most extreme weather conditions,” National Fuel said. National Fuel also filled its storage inventories with regionally produced gas over the summer when prices were lower, management said. “Overall, cumulative winter heating costs remain lower than what customers experienced during the winters of 2005 through 2009 – $900-$1,200 – before shale gas became widely available.” “Despite this cost increase, National Fuel’s customers continue to benefit from their proximity and access to abundant, reliable and lower-cost natural gas supplies produced in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia,” the firm said. The company offered some perspective on the price spike, highlighting that even higher prices than those expected this year used to be the norm. “Natural gas supply costs are passed along to customers dollar-for-dollar with no mark-up or profit to National Fuel.” “As required by state regulations, the utility is required to purchase sufficient quantities of reliable, least-cost natural gas supplies to meet customers’ demands during a colder than normal winter. “This rise – driven by several economic factors, including global demand for domestically produced liquefied natural gas, disruptions in domestic production, and lower-than-average national storage inventory levels – has caused an increase in the cost of natural gas purchased and placed in storage by the utility to meet customer heating needs for the upcoming winter,” the company said. This is more than double last winter, when prices averaged under $3. “Market prices for natural gas supplies have increased significantly from the historic lows experienced in the winters of 21,” the company said, citing that New York Mercantile Exchange natural gas pricing for winter delivery recently topped more than $6/MMBtu. This is up 43% from last winter’s $498 average, when temperatures were about 10% higher than normal, the National Fuel Gas Co. said Thursday that for its residential customers in Western New York, it expects the average winter heating bill, i.e.