Is (the worst of) it over?

Some relief has been forecast from a winter that carried extreme cold into the region, damaging water lines, increasing heating costs and pushing the mercury below zero 48 times without the wind chill factor.

Those heating with liquid propane were hit particularly hard when prices climbed over $4 a gallon for the first time in 14 years. But no matter what type of heat people use, theyve needed more of it this winter.

CenterPoint Energy customers in Minnesota have used 12 percent more therms to heat their homes this winter and spent 23 percent more for that gas over an average year. The company actually set a record for the most fuel delivered to its Minnesota customers within a 24-hour period, Jan. 6-7, according to Rebecca Virden, manager of public relations with CenterPoint Energy. That record delivery of 1.35 billion cubic feet of natural gas (the equivalent of about 12 million gallons in liquid form) occurred about the same time Pipestone recorded its lowest temperature readings of the year with a high of -11 and a low of -23.

Sioux Valley Energy also set a record on Jan. 6, delivering 142.8 megawatts to its customers in southwest Minnesota and east central South Dakota, topping the previous record set in December.

We can attribute almost all of it to electric heat, said Carrie Law, director of communications for Sioux Valley Energy.

The higher-than-average cost of heating prompted Gov. Mark Dayton to take executive action Feb. 4 expanding eligibility for the states heating assistance program, making an estimated 120,000 more Minnesotans eligible for assistance. The number of people who have received heating assistance since October in Nobles, Rock, Murray and Pipestone counties is in line with previous years at around 1,900, according to Doug Mead, head of the community development department for the Southwestern Minnesota Opportunity Council (SMOC). However, Mead said more people have been calling since the governors expansion of the program.

The challenge of keeping buildings warm is more pronounced the larger the building.

For Pipestone Area Schools, for example, with about 229,740 square feet to heat between Brown and Hill elementary schools and the middle school/high school, the heating bill has nearly doubled compared to the last two years, with the school district paying $42,529.53 for gas from October to December, the most recent billing data. Jim Lentz, PAS superintendent, said its dang cold in some parts of the buildings this year, such as in the commons at the middle school/high school area when students open the doors to enter the building in the morning.

The cold was also to blame when a sprinkler head burst Jan. 6 at the middle school/high school, sending water under 123 pounds of pressure into the middle school entrance area.

Burst pipes were a common theme this winter, according to local plumbers and hardware dealers. Mary Evink, receptionist for Stout and Evink Plumbing and Heating, said theres been considerably more calls about broken pipes. Tom Sterrett, salesman at Carrows True Value, said more people have been buying parts to repair frozen or broken pipes or heat tape to prevent frozen pipes than hes ever seen in his 20 years at the store.

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Is (the worst of) it over?