Last February the city of Cheney paid about $2 per thousand cubic feet, or unit, of natural gas on the wholesale market. Last week, during the height of the winter storm, it was paying more than $600 per unit.
The Kansas News Service reports that with city residents using three times as much natural gas as normal, even conservation efforts didn't do much to blunt the damage. According to Cheney City Administrator Danielle Young, in 2020, the city spent about $256,000 for the entire year on natural gas. This month alone, the city will end up spending around $1 million.
Kansans should expect their utility bills to go up next month in the wake of the winter storm. The cold temperatures caused the demand for natural gas to skyrocket and with it the price utilities had to pay to get access. Those increased fuel costs for utilities will be passed on to customers.
