As most people along the East cost this afternoon, I am reading about the snow storm and when it will hit where I live.  To my surprise, and article from Bloomberg Businessweek popped up, “Federal Offices Close, Energy Prices Surge Amide Eastern Snow”.  Naturally my interest was peaked when I read the title, so i started to read….

Bitter cold coming with the snow pushed natural gas futures up 2.4 percent today to settle at $4.431 per million British thermal units on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the highest close since Dec. 26. Almost half of U.S. households use gas for heating. Spot wholesale electricity jumped to two-week highs across eastern U.S. grids and spot gas hit records at hubs serving New York and Boston.

With global warming lower than normal temperatures, it seems that natural gas and electricity usages will be higher this winter than in years past and cause a shift in price with the higher demand.  So I did a little more research…check out this energy outlook on Projected Winter Fuel Expenditures by Fuel and Region.  Interesting stuff….