Columbia public works respond to rising natural gas prices

COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)

Over the past several months natural gas prices have been on the rise in Mid-Missouri. 

Ameren Missouri raised the price of natural gas by 16 cents due to things like the weather.

The city says volatility has also affected its use of natural gas, both for its buses that run on it and its own supply.

The price of natural gas went up 35 percent from February 2020 to February of this year, according to The Department of Labor.

And despite rising natural gas prices, John Ogan with Columbia Public Works says any fluctuation of natural gas prices won't hurt its company pockets all that bad.

"You'll find that the price of compressed natural gas generally is more stable than the price of crude oil," said Ogan.  

In fact, Ogan says, unlike regular gas prices the cost of natural gas at its oil facility hasn't budged since 2015 with the exception of last winter. 

"The city does use about 15,000-gallon equivalents of C-N-G each month so any price fluctuation is going to have a budgetary impact but when you're talking about the overall impact CNG's prices have been relatively stable," said Ogan.

Ogan also says the cost to fill up natural gas has only increased by 0.50 cents per gallon at its natural gas pump in Columbia.

However, the city is still pushing for more money due to higher demand.

Columbia utilities say its energy center has been tapped more often this year due to a heat wave and its staff is pushing for close to 8 million more dollars to run the energy center. 

This would bring the gas budget for the Columbia Energy Center to just shy of nine million dollars.