The Associated Press • Published July 02, 2008 Normally, natural gas prices are low in the summer months and utilities stock up for sale in the winter. This year, though, a spike in energy prices is also hitting natural gas, which likely means higher prices for consumers this winter, Avista Inc. warned Wednesday. Kevin Christie, Avista's director of gas supply, said prices rose from an average of $7.39 per dekatherm in June 2007 to $12.81 per dekatherm last month, a 73 percent increase. A typical home in the utility's service areas in Eastern Washington, northern Idaho and Oregon uses about seven dekatherms a month. "The combination of an unusually long winter and cold spring created higher demand for natural gas, which depleted storage reserves across the country," Christie said. High prices for crude oil, plus lower natural...
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