Minnesota May See Substantial Increase to Natural Gas Bill

This isn't cool. And in fact, there is actually an investigation into this situation from the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission.  But Minnesotans may see increases in their natural gas bill of up to $400.  That is hefty.

The reason is the unusual cold and freeze in the Southern part of the country especially Texas.  To put it in basic terms, Texas wasn't equipped for the sudden cold snap that happened last week.  There was a huge supply demand on the energy system.  This is causing a chain reaction that will spread to others, including us here, in Minnesota.

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While Minnesota's energy grid is capable of handling such conditions, that wasn't the same in other states, with the Minnesota Public Utilities Commission (PUC) announcing Tuesday that some state utilities were having to pay for gas at prices "at least 50 times higher than average" between Feb. 12 and Feb. 17.

It would be nice if this didn't happen.... but it looks like what the solution is going to be is to spread out the cost of this natural disaster of sorts.  Here in the North we don't think that it was much of a disaster.  We are equipped for that kind of weather, and it doesn't faze us, but that is not the case for them.  But we will be helping to pay for that increase of energy use.

They have said that we will more than likely not see anything show up for a few months, and it will be spread out over a few bills to soften the blow.

Per the Star Tribune, CenterPoint Energy said the extra charges could range from $300 to $400 on average, with Xcel Energy predicting about a $250 to $300 hike, MERC $225 to $250, and Great Plains Gas around $200 to $300.

Can't wait to get those bills... how about you?