A spokesman for Iowa’s largest utility company says natural gas prices have dropped to below half of their record high this past winter. MidAmerican spokesman Mark Reinders says the unit price for natural gas has dropped to three-dollars-and-fifty cents. Reinders says prices peaked at 10 dollars a unit this past winter — due mainly to a short supply.More gas is now available and flowing into the marketplace. Reinders says the low price should continue at least through January.Reinders says the low natural gas prices were unexpected, as they didn’t think the market would change so quickly.Reinders says MidAmerican is trying to buy up the low-priced gas for future use.He says they’re also trying to sign long-term contracts to lock in lower natural gas prices. MidAmerican has about 500-thousand natural gas customers in Iowa.