Natural gas price could soar this winter

Heating houses and businesses with natural gas this winter could cost as much as 50 percent more than last year.

Gas is trading at about $12 a decatherm, on the New York Mercantile Exchange, according to the Evansville Courier & Press. That price is significantly higher than the $8 charged on average last winter by Evansville-based Vectren Corp., which has more than a million utility customers in Indiana and Ohio.

A Vectren spokesman told the newspaper that demand for natural gas as a short-term fix for the nation’s energy shortage is so strong that Vectren now burns more of it to generate electricity than to heat houses.