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moneysense.ca, 17/10/05
Soaring Heating Bills? Not So Far
Inspired by a post in the Canadian Financial Stuff blog about skyrocketing home heating bills, I dug through my records to find out how natural gas prices have fluctuated over the past two years. Note that the data represents only the gas supply rate (in cents/M3) and not the Customer Charge, Delivery Charge or Gas Supply Charge billed by Enbridge (TSX: ENB).
![[Chart showing Natural Gas Prices over past two years]](http://www.canadiancapitalist.com/images/2005/natural_gas_prices.jpg)
As you can see in the graph, gas prices have been fairly stable over the past two years. It is possible that the strength of the Canadian dollar, which has appreciated about 30% over the same period, has kept a lid on prices. However, January 2006 might be a different story.
moneysense.ca, 17/10/05
I can’t find the article right now but I read recently that Alberta has (at current production rates) just a seven year reserve of natural gas. (Note that quoted reserves are what is currently economically viable to produce so don’t expect Alberta to actually be out of natural gas in seven years.) I think it’s safe to say that natural gas prices will rise at a rate exceeding inflation for the rest of our lifetime. (Unless of course, we get hit with a nasty recession.)
Canada is currently in the process of building/clearing regulatory hurdles for building Liquefied Natural Gas(LNG) terminals. These terminals allow us to bring in very cheap Natural gas from overseas. Natural Gas is one commodity that Canada doesn’t have as much as the rest of the world in, we are oil rich but not that much Natural Gas. The terminals are very controvertial but once completed will, I believe, bring natural gas prices down.
My hope is that Natural Gas prices don’t soar, as I have invested in a Natural Gas clothes dryer along with my water heater and furnace. Now I have had natural gas dryer for about 10 years now, so I think it already paid for itself, but my concern is that it may become a liability (let’s hope not).
Luckily in Ontario we have an abundance of Electrical power… oh sorry, no, that was when I was living in Quebec. Boy that James Bay power project looks like a better and better investment EVERY year.
–C8j
[...] Soaring Heating Bills? Not So Far [...]
[...] that our friend over at the Canadian Capitalist has not seen an increase in his heating costs yet either, but again, we shall see there. I checked my Ottawa Hydro bill and noticed that my [...]
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