WASHINGTON, DC — The months of November and December 2000 were the coldest months on record, according to the National Weather Service. This plays a major role in the higher natural gas bills that customers have been receiving form their local natural gas companies, according to the American Gas Association (AGA).

Although gas prices are up, AGA emphasized that the supply of natural gas is expected to be adequate to meet customers’ needs for the remainder of the winter heating season.

David N. Parker, president and ceo of AGA, said that due in part to the very cold weather that hit the U.S. in the last few months, the levels of natural gas in storage were lower at the end of December 2000 than at any comparable time during the seven years the association has been tracking gas levels in underground storage. But Parker emphasized that storage levels appear to be adequate to meet remaining winter needs.