Energy Center Total State Bill

MoDNR Topics

Missouri’s Total State Bill

About 79% of Missouri’s natural gas bill is paid by residential and commercial users for applications such as space and water heating. Natural gas is the primary heating fuel in 60 percent of Missouri households
In 1999, Missouri ranked twelfth among states in natural gas expenditures by the residential sector, fifteenth in expenditures by the commercial sector and twenty-eighth in expenditures by the industrial sector. Missouri ranked sixteenth in total expenditures for natural gas.
Industry accounts for only about 21 percent of natural gas expenditures in Missouri. Industry’s share at the national level is much larger, about 47 percent.
Utility expenditures for natural gas are not shown separately in the chart because they are included in end user expenditures for electricity. However, it should be noted that natural gas continues to be the fuel of choice for new generating plants in the electricity sector and that this new demand places pressure on natural gas supplies.

Expenditures for natural gas, like that for electricity and transportation fuels, trended upward in the 1990s. The state’s natural gas bill in 1999 was about 26 percent higher than in 1990.
However, expenditures for natural gas did not move consistently in one direction but varied during the decade depending on severity of the winter.
In contrast to the downward trend of prices for electricity and transportation fuels, the statewide average price for natural gas increased by about 13 percent during the 1990s, primarily in the residential and commercial sectors.
Natural gas prices increased dramatically after May 2000. A combination of low drilling rates during the past decade, low gas inventory, an unusually cold winter and increased demand led to wholesale natural gas prices that spiked 350 percent higher during the winter of 2000-2001 compared to the winter of 1999-2000.