By Mike Boyer
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Colder winter temperatures will push up natural gas costs for residential customers of Cinergy Corp. on March 1.

The parent of Cincinnati Gas & Electric and Union Light, Heat and Power Co. said Thursday that costs for typical homeowners in Southwest Ohio would rise 65 percent and in Northern Kentucky 44 percent from a year ago.

The increases are due to a "colder than normal winter season that has increased the demand for natural gas," said L.C. Randolph, Cinergy's vice president of gas operations.

The higher prices are a sharp reversal from 2002, when slack demand and warmer temperatures drove gas costs down.

By law, utilities such as Cinergy - which has about 480,000 natural gas customers across the Tristate - can pass to customers the cost of gas it supplies. The prices are adjusted four times a year.

Chris Owen, who owns a duplex in Mount Healthy, said he can afford the increase, "but it certainly takes money out of my pocket."

The rise will be more of a hardship for his upstairs tenant. "He's paying about $160-$170 a month and is on a fixed income,'' he said.

In Ohio, the typical CG&E customer using 10,800 cubic feet of gas will pay $97.62 starting March 1, up from $59.33 a month during the March through May period last year.

In Northern Kentucky, ULH&P customers using the same amount of gas will pay $100.86 a month, up from $69.90 a month last year.

The March rates will be up about 20 percent from the $81.46 a month that a CG&E customer using the same amount of gas is now paying.

E-mail mboyer@enquirer.com.