“We’re predicting bills to increase 43 percent if temperatures are normal in the Midwest,” said Tom Cuddy, NIPSCO’s communications manager. “The cost of natural gas has risen dramatically on the wholesale market, but our delivery fees have remained flat since 1991. Supply and demand are butting up right against each other, so prepare now for higher prices.”

Cuddy said higher NIPSCO bills and the overall cost of gas can be attributed to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita which knocked several domestic refineries out of commission.

“Winter begins in November and ends in March, so we’re advising people to learn how to use energy wisely this heating season,” said Cuddy. “Our customers need to weatherize their homes now by installing weather stripping, making sure windows are closed tightly, and caulk exterior and interior windows.”

Cuddy said NIPSCO customers also are advised to enroll in the utility’s Budget Plan which equally distributes payments over a 12month period. NIPSCO also provides assistance for lower-income customers and “traditionally” waives shut-offs during the winter heating season.

“We also lowered the reconnection fee to one month which is based on estimated annual heating costs,” said Cuddy. “This goes above and beyond what’s been negotiated.”

Indiana Michigan Power customers who rely on electricity to heat their homes could make out a little better than natural gas customers. Electric heat customers can expect higher bills only with increased utility use.

“Electric rates haven’t been impacted in Indiana,” said Mike Brown, an Indiana Michigan Power representative. “We use coal and nuclear power, and only had a one percent or 68-cent increase for the first time in six years. Indiana’s fortunate because we primarily use coal and nuclear power, giving us the ninth lowest rate in the country and the lowest in Indiana.”

He thought about in the ‘70s and ‘80s, and again at the turn of the century, but switching to alternative energy is now more than a thought for Craig Harding, a former Fort Wayne resident now residing in Portland, Ore.

“I’m in training to sell alternative energy products,” said Harding. “I did research on alternative energy based on what’s going on in the world and alternative energy should be the obvious choice for everyone because all of the global issues we’re facing keep logarithmically increasing.”

Harding explained that houses once were built to take full advantage of the sun’s natural light and heating powers, and the wind’s cooling capabilities but home construction began shifting away from that as natural resources, such as fossil fuel, became available for a few pennies on the dollar. Now that the global community is reliant upon dwindling natural resources, the cost of those fuels has sharply increased and is not expected to ever go back down.

“We’re blazing through our petroleum supplies, but if we get our alternative energies and resources together and think outside the grid, we’ll have a better set of tools to deal with what life throws at us,” said Harding. “We just don’t have mental or conceptual alternatives and that’s one of our biggest problems. We want things to go in specific boxes in the western world. We don’t want to hold opposites in our hands. It’s very uncomfortable for us and people aren’t comfortable being aware or being self-sufficient. We have to get beyond ‘I work, I make money and use the money I earn to solve problems in life.’”

Harding owns and operates September Audio Studios which caters to the high-end audio and visual market. While that’s potentially lucrative, Harding is turning to alternative energy sales as a potential new career although his annual earnings are estimated to be 20 percent less than what he currently earns. Being part of the solution, however, is more appealing than making as much as he can, he said. Harding said he most likely would adapt his own residence to one that uses alternative energy versus fossil fuels and other natural resources.

“Solar water heating has the quickest payback,” he said. “You can install a solar water system for about $6,000, and then take advantage of the state and federal rebates which will be increasing next year. In the end, that system only costs you about $1,500 and it will pay for itself within three or four years.”

A local company, Geothermal Design Associates Inc., specializes in installing solar water systems and has done so for the past 22 years, explained Reva Brown, president and co-owner of the 14-yearold company.

“Geothermal is technology that uses the heat or energy from the ground by way of plastic pipes that are either put in the ground or in ponds,” said Brown. “They do heating and cooling at half the operating cost of natural gas and for a third of propane costs.”

For example, geothermal heating costs for a 2,000 square-foot ranch house with a basement is about $550 a year compared to $1,100 with natural gas or $615 with propane, explained Brown. Even though installation costs for geothermal systems can cost 10 to 30 percent more than a conventional heating system, it could pay for itself in a year in newly constructed homes or within four to five years in existing homes.

“Many people don’t know this, but northern Indiana has led the nation in geothermal technology for the past decade because we have good quality renewable ground water,” said Brown. “We have just under 10 percent of the total market, but hundreds of units are being installed.”

Brown said her company gets most of its calls after Labor Day, but phone calls have doubled in the wake of the hurricanes and increasing gas prices. Geothermal systems already have been installed at the new PBS station, Dupont Medical Center, Jorgensen and Parkview YMCAs, Lancaster Elementary School in north Wells County, a local Zesto’s ice cream shop, the Corvette Museum, SDI facilities in Whitley and Dekalb counties, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton, and Aboite Lutheran and Christ Community churches, to name a few of the 2,000 systems Brown’s company has installed within a one-hour radius drive of Fort Wayne.

“It uses the same principle as a refrigerator,” said Brown. “Instead of using gas lines, we use water lines and it only takes about two days to install a system. And, customers can pay for it through home equity loans, in-house financing or have it added to their new home construction mortgage. This is truly cost-effective.”

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