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Natural gas bills are going up this winter

AP File Photo/Toby Talbot

Natural gas customers in North Carolina can expect to see an increase in their monthly bills this winter.

New rates for Piedmont Natural Gas customers go into effect on November 1.

The estimated bill increase for the average residential customer in North Carolina will be a little over $11 a month, or $136 per year.

According to a news release, the price hikes are being driven in part by global surges in demand, combined with slower than expected production in the past year.

Officials with Piedmont Natural Gas, which is a subsidiary of Duke Energy, acknowledge that the higher rates may create hardships for some customers. To that end, they are steering households to assistance options such as the Low Income Energy Assistance Program, which helps customers pay home heating bills.

And the company says it's suspending disconnection of service for customers who qualify through March 2022.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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