Tristate residents who heat their homes with natural gas are reeling after getting their Cincinnati Gas & Electric bills for December, a month that was 41 percent colder than usual.

        And the utility is just starting to mail out bills for January, which will reflect a 20 percent rate increase — coming on top of an average 33 percent rate hike in December.

        The higher rates coincided with the nation's coldest November-December period on record. The two-month peri od averaged 33.8 degrees, compared to the old record of 34.2 set in 1898, according to records kept by the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

        “I was shocked, said Kris Mullaney, 35, whose most recent bill to heat her 80-year-old Westwood home was $270 (up from $110 the month before. “I knew they (rates) were going up, but that first bill was sticker shock,” she said.

        “I think it's a little high,” said Mary E. Jenkins, 84, of Reading. Ms. Jenkins' latest gas bill was $291.32, up from $112.88 the month before.

        This month's rate hike will increase the bill of a typical Cincinnati customer using 25,000 cubic feet of gas by about $93 over what that person paid in January last year, a 60 percent hike.

        Because CG&E splits its gas-meter readings over 21 districts reflecting 21 business days in a month, only a handful of customers have had their meters read since the January hike.

        Winter's higher gas bills have fueled a sharp increase in customer calls, CG&E said Friday.

        Customer call volume in December was about 40 percent higher than it anticipated, the utility said.

        The utility's call center expected about 92,000 calls last month but received 129,000, said Steve Brash, CG&E spokesman.

        Only a few thousand of CG&E's 480,000 gas customers have had their meters read this week, reflecting the higher gas rates that took effect Monday. Those bills arrived in customer mail boxes today and Friday.

        CG&E has been averaging between 10,000 and 11,000 customer calls daily. Typically, CG&E would expect 6,000 to 7,000 a day.

        To handle the added volume, the utility has increased staff and is taking customers' names and numbers during peak calling times, so the calls can be returned later, he said.

        Peak calling times are on Mondays and early in the month, he said.

        “A portion of the calls we've received are people seeking (emergency) assistance,” Mr. Brash said. “Some of the calls were from customers concerned about their ability to pay the entire bill.”

        Those customers are referred to the utility's extended payment and budget billing options, he said.

        Not all CG&E customers were shocked by their bills.

        Helen Horton, a 37-year-old who lives in a 50-year-old house in Montgomery “with 50-year-old windows,” is used to high gas charges, although she has noticed the increase. Her last bill was over $400 and “it used to always be in the low $300s.”

        CG&E, which is only allowed to pass on to customers what it actually pays for natural gas, received approval for a 33.4 percent December rate increase for a typical Tristate residential customer using 25,000 cubic feet of gas.

        CG&E says last month was about 41 percent colder than December 1999, based on the number of degree days — a measure of the difference in average daily temperature from 65 degrees.

        There were 1,315 degree days last month vs. 931 in December 1999, CG&E said.

        The continuing sharp rise in gas prices prompted CG&E to go back to state regulators in the middle of last month for another rate hike, increasing average rates another 20 percent over what customers paid in December.

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