The GC for a 30-day billing period is an average based on the number of days billed in each of those months. For an average residential customer, the cost of gas, or the GC portion of the bill, represents about two-thirds of their annual Nicor Gas bill. Many experts feel supply and demand are more closely matched now than in past years, so prices are, and will continue to be, more sensitive to short-term changes in supply and demand. Longer term, natural gas is in abundant supply. According to the U.S. Department of Energy and the Colorado School of Mines' Potential Gas Committee, our nation has known natural gas reserves equal to about 65 years of consumption at current production levels.
Many experts believe the United States has several hundred years of available natural gas supply.
The fact is that between 1985 and 1996, Nicor Gas' average annual cost of gas charged to customers declined by 11 percent. In purchasing your gas supplies, our goal is to secure reliable supplies at the lowest possible cost. We operate seven underground storage facilities, which allow us to buy natural gas during the summer when prices are usually lower and store it for winter so we can pass those savings on to customers. During the winter, about one-third of the gas we distribute to customers comes from storage. And on the coldest winter days, Nicor Gas provides 50 to 60 percent of our customers' gas needs from storage.