Natural gas prices in Western New York are predicted to decrease by 30% for the 2023-24 winter heating season.
National Fuel released its forecast saying, natural gas customers should expect some relief in store from last year’s elevated energy costs.
Based on the seasonal projection for an average residential customer’s home heating bill during the months of November through March, officials at National Fuel anticipate that customers will see a 30% decrease from last winter.
The Utility estimates that the average residential customer will pay $572, or $114 a month, to heat their home this upcoming winter. Last winter, total heating bills hovered on average at $816 or $163 per month.
The projected decrease is driven in large part by lower natural gas commodity prices offset slightly by the expectation that the average customer will use more gas this winter if temperatures resemble the 15-year historic average.
Natural gas prices have declined significantly since last winter. Nearly half of the natural gas that customers will use this winter has already been purchased and placed into storage during the summer months when prices on the New York Mercantile Exchange were about half the cost of gas purchased and placed into storage last summer.
While Western New York’s winter last year was extreme at points with two major blizzards in November and December, when reviewing the winter as a whole, temperatures were consistently above average with the entire season finishing 11.4% warmer than normal. And the reliability of National Fuel’s natural gas delivery system held strong during the extreme conditions including the 5-day Christmas blizzard and its aftermath as only 13 total outages occurred. Customers without power relied on natural gas equipment to maintain adequate levels of warmth through utilizing natural gas fireplaces, hot water tanks, natural gas stoves and back-up natural gas generators.
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