New Ulmites cut back on use of natural gas in this winter of the energy crisis by 7.7 per cent, according to final totals. Electricity use was down about two per cent.

Monthly usage figures were supplied by City Clerk Andrew Bastian while seasonal totals and percentages were figured by the Journal. The five months since President Nixon issued a nationwide appeal last Nov. 7 for citizens to conserve energy were included in the total.

The declines occurred even though the five months of November through March this winter were about seven per cent colder than last winter based on total number of degree days in New Ulm.

(A degree day is the average temperature below 65. For example if the high and low were 30 and 20 the average temperature for that day would be 25 and that day would contribute 40 degree days to the monthly total.)

Edward Lindemann, foreman of the gas department at the power plant, noted, however, that it was less windy this winter than last and “If it’s a cold windy day the load goes up.”

The wind may have evened things up some but even if the two winters were equal in severity New Ulm residents still cut back consumption of both natural gas and electricity use by respectable margins.

The decline in consumption of natural gas was not due to any cutback by the Public Utilities Commission supplier,Northern Natural Gas, according to Lindemann and PUC Supt. Milt Barck. The PUC got the same amount of natural gas this year as last year, they said.

Last Nov.7 President Nixon issued a nationwide appeal for citizens to conserve energy by, among other things, turning down their thermostats to 68. People were also urged by various spokesmen to cut down on waste of electricity.

Barck said he thought New Ulmites’ efforts to meet these appeals had a lot to do with the decline in usage. He noted that he used to expect about a 10 per cent increase per year in electricity usage, but since the energy crisis this hasn’t been true.

The downturn electricity usage in New Ulm goes against a trend which saw usage increase 250 per cent over the 10 years from 1962 to 1971, from 35% million kilowatt hours sold to 91.7.

Before we get too proud, however, we must not that according to John Graff of the Minneapolis Weather Bureau, the metropolitan Twin Cities area (1.9 million people) had a savings of from nine to 14per cent in use of all energy this winter, including electricity and all heating fuels.

Graff told the Journal that Minneapolis had a winter season this year about even with last, based on degree days recorded there.

According to a Minneapolis Tribune article, a sharp reduction in the Upper Midwest’s rising curve of electricity use is predicted for this summer by the region’s major public and private utilities.

However, the utilities consider the reduction – attributed to conservation practices – essentially a one-time phenomenon.

Advance planning information which the utilities reported last week to the Federal Power Commission indicated they see gross demand for electricity after 1975rising through 1993 at about the same rate as in the past.

The utilities foresee a peak 1974 summer demand three per cent higher than 1973, but a return to past levels of 6 to 7 per cent a year increases in 1975 and a continuation at that rate throughout the foreseeable future, the report anticipates.

The assumption behind this reasoning is that conservation steps already taken have removed all or most of the fat from electricity use.