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Mild winter causing utility savings across area

Unusually warm winter means less demand, energy suppliers report.

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By Cornelius Frolik, Staff Writer Updated 7:55 AM Thursday, February 9, 2012

Stretches of unseasonably warm weather in the Dayton area and Ohio on average has led to lower residential electric and heating costs, and the savings could continue because meteorologists predict it will remain a mild winter.

Dayton Power & Light said customer demand for electricity in its service area was down 6.4 percent in December compared to the previous year. The company supplies power to more than 500,000 customers in 24 counties, including Butler, Champaign, Clark, Greene, Miami, Montgomery and Warren.

Duke Energy, which serves about 685,000 customers, said average residential electric usage in the Ohio service territory was down 14 percent in December compared to the previous year.

Vectren Energy Delivery of Ohio said heating bill amounts on average have dropped about 40 percent between 2009 and today because of warm weather and cheaper prices.

“It’s very good news, because at the same time you have warm weather you have (natural) gas prices that continue to fall,” said Chase Kelley, Vectren spokeswoman. “It is down to a 10-year low.”

Kelley said between November and the end of January, the weather has been 15 to 25 percent warmer than normal, and that contributed to smaller bills. She said also a surge in domestic natural gas production has increased supplies, sending prices to record lows.

Vectren serves about 315,000 customers in 17 counties in west-central Ohio.

In Dayton, the average temperature for December and January was 33 degrees, which was higher than normal, said Andrew Snyder, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Wilmington.

December’s average temperature — 36.4 degrees — was 5.2 degrees above normal, and January’s temperature — 30.7 degrees — was 3.2 degrees higher than normal temperatures, Snyder said.

“Right now we are probably running somewhere in the lower 30s or so for the average winter temperature,” Snyder said. “The record warmest winter for Dayton was 40.6 degrees, which occurred in 1932.”

This winter is currently among the top 30 warmest on record. Snyder said the climate prediction center anticipates that average temperatures will remain higher than normal through the end of February.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2000 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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