While drivers have gotten a bit of a break recently on gas prices, some of the windfall is being offset by higher heating prices. Department of Natural Resources energy analyst, Brian Crowe, says the gas price drop didn’t carry over to natural gas.

Crowe says natural gas is a different market and natural gas has gone up about 13 cents compared to last month. Crowe says warmer weather led to the drop in the price of gas we put into our cars, but speculation about the weather has kept natural gas prices up. He says futures market analysts are predicting the weather is going to stay cold, and people will need to heat their homes well into February and March.

Crowe says that expected demand is keeping natural gas prices up. Even with the price up, Crowe says natural gas prices are a lot better this year. Crowe says the natural gas price is about 26-percent lower than it was at this time last year. The DNR survey did find that heating oil, a less popular heating fuel in Iowa, 18-cents lower than last month and one cent lower than the price of heating oil at this time last year.