Students living in apartments off campus have had to pay higher energy bills, on average, than last winter due to upticks in natural gas prices, according to an email sent to Shoremeade Apartments residents late last month.
Washington Gas, a natural gas company that provides service to more than 1.2 million customers in the District, said in a Feb. 20 email obtained by The Hatchet that factors like weather, fluctuating imports and exports and changes in inventory levels are spiking natural gas prices nationally. The email asserts that while it is normal for apartment residents to see an increase in their energy usage and, therefore, their bills, during the winter, the average increase has been higher this year because of the uptick in prices.
“Demand for natural gas in the U.S. peaks in the winter because of its use as a space heating fuel,” the U.S. Energy Information Administration said in an email. “This is especially true in the residential sector as natural gas is the main space heating fuel in 45 percent of U.S. homes.”
According to the Washington Gas website, the cost of gas per therm — the unit measurement for natural gas — increased by seven cents in February 2025 compared to February 2024. An average household uses about 40 therms monthly during the winter.
Washington Gas projects predict that natural gas will cost 71 cents per therm in March 2025 — 18 cent more than the cost in March 2024, according to its website.
The EIA’s winter fuels outlook report, published to their website in October 2024, predicted that energy bills for homes heated with natural gas will be 10 percent more than last winter.
In December 2024, average temperatures in D.C. were 3.6 degrees lower than the previous year, according to the National Weather Service, which the email states may have caused residents to increase their energy consumption to heat their homes.
In late January, the EIA predicted a rise in the price of wholesale U.S. natural gas prices due to an increase in demand nationally. Washington Gas wrote in the email that they are a regulated utility, so they do not make a profit from the sale of natural gas.
“The price we pay for gas is passed on to our customers. In other words, customers pay the same amount for natural gas as Washington Gas pays its suppliers,” the email states.
The EIA wrote in an article posted to its website that it expects the demand for natural gas in the United States will grow in the next couple years faster than the current amount of natural gas that is stored can keep up with because of demand from U.S. liquified natural gas export facilities, which the EIA reported are on track to more than double between 2024 and 2028.
