Did you know that over the past year, wholesale natural gas prices have surged upward by 25%? A key reason for this price spike is concern over supply.

The amount of natural gas being used in electric power-generating plants in place of coal has increased enormously over the last 10 years or so. This has raised legitimate worries about the limited capacity of pipelines that transport natural gas.

Besides supply issues, a recent study found that over the last decade, natural gas customers in the U.S. paid $20 billion for fuel they never received. That’s due to old, leaky pipelines — which pollute the atmosphere with methane, the main component of natural gas. So much for natural gas being a “green” fuel!