U.S. RESIDENTIAL GAS USE GROWS

The American Gas Association reports U.S. residential consumption of gas increased 6% in 1993 to an estimated 5.1 quadrillion BTUs (quads), matching the record set in 1992. Michael Baly, AGA president, said continued strong growth for gas in the residential market should not be underestimated, although more efficient equipment and better construction will reduce gas use more than 22%/household by 2010. An AGA study predicts gas use will drop from 84.6 MMBTU/household in 1993 to 65.5 MMBTU in

April 18, 1994

2 min read

The American Gas Association reports U.S. residential consumption of gas increased 6% in 1993 to an estimated 5.1 quadrillion BTUs (quads), matching the record set in 1992.

Michael Baly, AGA president, said continued strong growth for gas in the residential market should not be underestimated, although more efficient equipment and better construction will reduce gas use more than 22%/household by 2010.

An AGA study predicts gas use will drop from 84.6 MMBTU/household in 1993 to 65.5 MMBTU in 2010.

AGA said, "That means to grow, the natural gas industry must maintain as much as possible of its existing residential customer base, aggressively expand it through new housing additions and conversions of existing homes to gas, and introduce new gas products to residential customers.

"Because other energy industries will see similar conservation trends, competition for new and existing customers will be intense, and the results will significantly affect overall energy use and environmental quality in the U. S.

The study forecasts the number of gas residential customers will increase 36% by 2010, but gas consumption in that market will rise from the current 5.1 quads only 5% to 5.4 quads.

"This kind of efficiency in the residential market means that more new customers and more new markets can be served with moderate growth in supply requirements. That situation will keep natural gas competitive in all markets and help encourage orderly development of our natural gas resource base."

The AGA study said from 1972 through 1992, gas use per household decreased 30.1% while the number of residential customers grew 30.7%. As a result, the residential market used about as much gas in 1992 as it had used 20 years earlier, even with 12 million more customers.