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Hot Weather and Low Prices Boost Demand for Natural Gas

Mario Tama / Getty Images

Dusty Rhodes plays his saxophone in New York City during a heatwave in mid-July.


One of the hottest summers on record, combined with some of the lowest natural gas prices ever seen, increased natural gas use 24 percent over the same six-month period of 2011. Using figures from Bentek Energy, the Energy Information Administration released a report today that shows how natural gas generated electricity peaked in July and August.

“Bentek Energy, which has been estimating power burn since January 2005, said that 17 of the 25 highest days of power burn since 2005 occurred this summer between June 28 and August 9. The two main drivers of the increased use of natural gas at power plants this year are weather and a structural shift toward generating more electricity from natural gas-fired power plants.”

The greatest percentage increase occurred in the upper Mid-West.

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