The Northeast is experiencing a colder-than-normal winter. Population-weighted temperatures from October through February were 11% colder than the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projected at the start of the heating season, 10% colder than the 10-year average, and 1% colder than last winter. The cold weather increased demand for both distillate fuel and natural gas for residential and commercial space heating. As natural gas demand for space heating increased, the natural gas supply infrastructure reached its limits and could not provide enough natural gas to meet overall demand, which also includes commercial, industrial and power generation uses. One result was the curtailment of natural gas supplies to interruptible customers, who are mostly industrial users and electric generators, who responded to curtailments by increasing their own use of distillate fuel. Some customers also switched voluntarily from natural gas to distillate as natural gas prices spiked above distillate fuel prices. ... More »
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