Michigan's Cold February Creates All-Time Natural Gas Usage Records

Last month's record cold led to record usage of gas to heat homes across Michigan.

Consumers Energy reports the all-time records for most natural gas delivered in one day and most gas delivered in one hour were both set last month.

Consumers Energy serves natural gas to 1.7 million homes and businesses in Michigan. February's cold temperatures led to an 11 percent increase this year when compared to February 2014. However, overall natural gas usage for the entire winter is down 2 percent when compared to last winter.

Records set last month:

Most natural gas delivered in 24 hours, from 1 p.m. Feb. 19 to 1 p.m. Feb. 20. Temperatures fell to more than 20 degrees below zero across the state during that night. The previous record was set Jan. 18-19, 1994.
Most natural gas delivered in an hour, from 7 to 8 a.m. Feb. 20. The previous record was set Jan. 7, 2014.

“Comerica Park in Detroit would need to be more than a half-mile tall to hold all of the natural gas we provided in just one 24-hour period last month,” said Tim Sparks, Consumers Energy’s vice president of energy supply operations.

Here's hoping spring has arrived after another record-setting winter.