Understanding Your Utility Bills: Natural Gas

As a fossil fuel NG is a colorless and odorless gas in its natural state and is one of the cleanest burning hydrocarbons. The factors that contribute to the popularity of natural gas in the US manufacturing sector include ease of availability, clean burning properties, market deregulation, and increased domestic production. Analyzing natural gas (NG) bills can sometimes pose unique problems. Learning to read your utility bills and understand why your utility charges different fees is critical in maximizing your cost savings through energy efficiency. A key to creating a baseline is collecting and analyzing natural gas utility data. Historical data from NG bills can identify trends and help to find the baseline usage for a manufacturing operation. This guide intends to help Better Plant Program partners in understanding natural gas bills and analyzing usage to reduce costs. The guide focuses on natural gas production and transportation, understanding key charges on bills, different rate structures, and saving opportunities. A fictitious worked out example in the final section demonstrates how readers could go about analyzing natural gas bills.