Nobody had a big economic incentive to find new supplies. As prices have climbed, so has the incentive to drill. A real turnaround came in the hot summer of 2000, when for the first time, the draw on natural gas to fuel power plants was significant enough to create a summer bubble as well as the usual winter increase in demand. The result was natural gas prices that soared out of sight when the hot summer was followed by a record cold winter. That means natural gas stocks are likely to stay strong, she explained.
Warne doubts it.
At least in the short term. On the utility side, market forces are a little more complicated. Two of the biggest companies, Western Resources and Utilicorp, have pending events that affect prices. St. Louis analyst Brian Youngberg said the pending split in Western Resources is keeping stock prices from changing much. Utilities as a whole had a very good year last year.