UTILITIES: Low natural gas prices continue to amaze
The Times Board of Economists: An economic update from Karl Stanley, NIPSCO vice president of commercial operations
Historically low natural gas prices and warm winter weather have utility customers breathing a sigh of relief.
Those low natural gas prices are also good for utilities like NIPSCO that use the clean fuel to produce a portion of their electricity, creating a kind of virtuous circle for customers and utility companies alike.
"From the company's perspective, it's all good," said NIPSCO Vice President of Commercial Operations Karl Stanley.
Natural gas for March was trading in the range of $2.50 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange last week. The price was above $4 when the winter heating season started. Six winters ago natural gas prices broke the $10 mark.
NIPSCO is seeing stable to strong demand for electricity from large industrial consumers along the lake, with steel mill capacity now approaching 80 percent.
"The auto industry seem to be doing OK, and that is feeding some of the strength in the steel business as well," Stanley said.
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