In Chicago, 30,000 households have had their heat disconnected

[donsu]

http://www.suntimes.com/output/business/cst-fin-gas12.html

State utilities to waive reconnection fees

-snip-

The high price of natural gas, made worse by Hurricanes Rita and Katrina, might push winter heating bills in the Midwest 40 percent to 71 percent higher than they were last winter. Peoples Energy figures the average customer bill will be $1,560 for the five months between November and March.

-snip-

In Chicago, 30,000 households have had their heat disconnected, and 14,000 are eligible to be disconnected.

At a "winter assistance day" coordinated by government and energy officials Saturday at Englewood High School, 4,000 people came for help on their bills. The event was scheduled to start at 10 a.m., but the line started forming at 4:30 in the morning.
-snip-
---------------------------------


financial backs will be broken this winter

children will be cold

the fire departments will be busy

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

1. My boss's natural gas bill

has increased from $100 to $150 a month, and it isn't even cold yet.

[Pirate Smile]

4. I guess we need to turn down the water heater. Do they have a gas

stove? What else do they use nat gas for?

[prolesunited]

12. A lot of people in the Chicago area

use natural gas for heating.

We've been lucky to have an extremely mild October, so I'm sure many like me are trying to play catch-up on their electric bills from the beastly hot summer we had.

[Pirate Smile]

15. Right. I was trying to think of things other then heat and the main

things I thought of was water heaters and gas stoves.

I'm in Iowa and we've only turned on the heat a couple of nights. Today it is in the upper 70's - unusually warm but absolutely beautiful.

edit to add - we also have gas heat which I'm worried about too.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

13. strictly for heating eom

[CottonBear]

2. Dem. Senators and Reps holding a live press conference now:

http://www.c-span.org/watch/cspan2_rm.asp?Cat=TV&Code=CS2

Senators Kerry and Clinton spoke as did Bart Stupak of Michigan.

[Verve]

3. When it gets colder do they legally have to turn it on?

I thought that legally they can't turn off heat in the winter months. So if they hurry and turn off all deliquent accounts before winter, wouldn't they have to technically turn on heat for deliquent accounts when it gets cold?

[catmandu57]

10. Most states have a cold weather rule

That you can't have your heat turned off from November through March, they can and will cut you off flat 1 April though. They don't have to turn the heat back on when it gets cold again, only when someone has satisfied their debt, and then they may require a large deposit before restoring utilities.
We're fixed pretty well here, but, this winter is going to be a nightmare for millions of people.

[rinsd]

5. Avg bill will be $300 per customer per month!!??!! (nt)

[TX-RAT]

7. Is that high?

My house is all electric, i would love to have a bill that low.

[Elwood P Dowd]

9. That's just for heating

You still have an electric bill. My mother uses gas heat in the winter, yet she still pays over $100.00 a month for electricity to run the fridge, washer, dryer, freezers, stereo, lights, etc..

[MissB]

18. Wowza. $100 a month for electricity?

:wow:

I'm in a 2200 sq ft home with all that- fridge, washer, dryer, freezers, stereo, lights, computer... and I'm only paying $45 to $55 a month ($55 is during the holidays when we have lights up).

Yikes. I just can't imagine doubling my bill.

[rinsd]

14. Well I am comparing it to a 2 person occupied apartment.....

...but even during the super gouging energy crisis here in San Diego, my gas & electric bill never went above $100.

My gas usage accounts for about 15% of my bill which in the winter hover around $55 normally. Granted I don't have the heat going all the time here but still....$300 a month just for heating oil/gas?

[TX-RAT]

16. Mine average around 400 a month

It's hot here so the summer months are the worst, winter months average 275 plus, depending on how cold it gets. It gets cold here, low teens are common, but the summers are brutal. I'm heating and cooling a little over 3000 sq ft.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

6. On C-Span2 right now, there's the tail end of a press conference

by Dems and this is just being mentioned by an Ill. Rep.

[SmokingJacket]

8. The day after Bush got "reelected", we went woodstove shopping.

We knew things would get ugly.

Still, we can't heat water with wood, so we ain't too smug. Plus, the price of wood is going up too. Crazy times.

Got to get back to my knitting.

[maximovich]

11. Anyone Denying Corporatocracy or Present Day Fascism?

Looks like we are just about there. They are oh soooo close, but guess what? They will fail.

[SoCalDem]

17. I am glad to be in Calif.. I rarely turn the furnace on

even in "winter".. I would hate to be in Chicago this winter..or anywhere cold ..Good luck to you cold climate people this winter.. Bundle up:)