Residents out of gas

Indiana's natural gas utilities have warned thousands of customers across the state that they face having their service cut off because of overdue balances.\nThe state moratorium that prohibits utilities from disconnecting customers during the winter expires Saturday.\nThe utilities estimate more people could be left without heat this year compared with 2002, mainly because cold weather and skyrocketing wholesale gas prices have driven up heating bills while the weak economy has made it difficult for many to pay their bills.\nVectren Corp. has notified roughly 3,500 customers, most of whom are on energy assistance programs, of possible disconnections, compared with about 1,500 at the same time last year.\nVectren serves about 730,000 gas customers in central and southwestern Indiana.\n"This has been a difficult winter, it really cut across all customer classes," Vectren spokesman Mike Roeder said. "When freezing temperatures coupled with exponentially increasing gas prices, everybody has struggled with bills."\nWholesale gas prices more than doubled during January and February this year, compared with the same period last year, Roeder said. Gas prices account for roughly 65 percent of home heating bills.\nNorthern Indiana Public Service Co., which serves 700,000 customers in northern Indiana, has sent out disconnect notices to 3,700 customers, spokesman Larry Graham said. NIPSCO sent out 3,500 notices last year.\n"We are encouraging customers who receive notices to contact us so we have time to work with them to avoid the disconnection," Graham said.\nCitizens Gas, which serves 262,000 customers in and around Indianapolis, expects more than 900 customers will face disconnection next week.\n"The exact number facing disconnection is still a moving target," said Dan Considine of Citizens Gas. "Given the severity of the winter and continued problems in the economy, we recognize more people may be behind on their energy bills this year."\nNeedy families can contact the utilities to discuss various payment options that could prevent their heat from being turned off.\nThe 24 community action centers across the state also are helping people with heating bills.