Dateline: December 25, 2003

GreenLight seeks inquiry on gas prices

By Roger Estlack, Clarendon Enterprise

A GreenLight Gas official last week said he wants a Congressional investigation to be conducted following sharp increases in wholesale natural gas prices.

General Manager Brent Wheeler said local consumers could see a huge increase in their February billing, and he wants them to know that his company wants something done about it.

“No one should have to choose between heating and eating, but that’s exactly the choice that too many local customers face this winter,” Wheeler said.

GreenLight purchased wholesale gas in November for $4.51 per MCF (thousand cubic feet), but Wheeler says the company’s price soared after Thanksgiving and could cost them as much as $7 per MCF in January.

Wheeler says he wants everyone to contact their elected representative in Congress and urge them to take definitive action to investigate the increase.

“There is some talk that Congress might do an investigation,” he said. “They’ve been getting heat for the last two years but haven’t done anything.”

US Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Clarendon) could not be reached for comment due to the Christmas holidays.

“I don’t know that anyone has a good reason [for the increase],” Wheeler said. “It’s just inexcusable. The industry has full storage, and we don’t have real cold weather.”

Wheeler said the war in Iraq and increased usage to generate electricity have been offered as excuses for increased natural gas costs, but he said that doesn’t explain this latest increase.

“The vast majority of natural gas is produced in the United States,” he said, “and we’ve got more in storage than we did last year.”

Wheeler said this is the third year that prices have increased sharply. His company paid $1.74 per MCF in October 2001, which he calls an unusual low, and as much as $11.73 in March 2003.

Natural gas utilities are regulated by the state, but the wholesale natural gas market is unregulated and functions like a commodity. Wheeler compares it to the markets for cotton or soybeans and says it has the capability of taking big jumps or big declines.

GreenLight Gas is a not-for-profit natural gas provider and serves Clarendon, Hedley, Dodson, Estelline, Lakeview, Memphis, Paducah, and Wellington.