Natural gas price hikes pinch student wallets

As the cold weather sets in, students may notice an increase in their gas bills as their heat rises.

The Philadelphia Gas Works, which supplies gas to the entire city, has been raising its rates for several years and recently announced that rates will increase by 15 percent on Dec. 1.

The rate increase will have little effect on the Penn students who live in college houses, because steam, not gas, is generally used to heat the buildings. But many of those who live in off-campus housing will not be so fortunate.

The utilities tenants pay for -- including gas -- vary in price by landlord and property. Many of those who will have to shoulder an increased burden were unaware of the rise and are displeased with yet another bill hike.

State Sen. Allyson Schwartz (D-Phila.) wrote in a legal brief in May that over the last four years the average residential heating bill has increased nearly 60 percent, from just over $900 per year to almost $1,450 per year.

"It's shitty," Wharton senior Aaron Goldman said. "Everything keeps going up -- the cost of living is going up."

Major landlords who include gas in their rent said the increased utility cost would not be a factor in setting rent prices. However, Lea Tribble, who works for Campus Apartments, noted that rent will still go up next year.

Yet, properties in University City already cost significantly more than houses and apartments in other neighborhoods farther away from campus.

"I think it's overpriced," said College senior Alison Thurber, who lives on the 4000 block of Locust Street. Thurber and her housemates pay utility bills themselves.

"In a few places we've lived, the utilities were included and that was much better," she said.

PGW has been struggling financially for years and has recently started to crack down on people who are behind on payments, turning their gas off even during winter months -- which was previously illegal under state law. But the company says the rate spike has nothing to do with fiscal troubles, and is solely linked to oil prices.

PGW spokesman Doug Oliver said that a number of factors, including hurricanes in the southern regions of the country, had disrupted the collection and refinement of natural gas, further raising its cost.

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