The author of the original article has very little understanding of how the utility company works. Although it sounds very logical that when the fuel price drops the price of electricity follows, it is not exactly the case.

First, the rate that the consumers pay is set by the State PUC. It is not very often that the PUC orders the utility to lower the rates just because the fuel costs less. The %% of electricity produced by burning NG is far from 100% (25%, maybe 30%?). I do not think the lectricity produced from coal, hydro, nuclear, wind/solar became much cheaper. Second, the bill has many other components, some of which are fixed fees and do not depend on anything else. Then, delivery charges that only depend on volumes consumed. Yes, warm weather helped in that case, but not the falling NG price.

Now, about gas utilities. They are passing to the consumers the price they paid for NG. By law, they must have their storage full before the heating season starts, and actually they do not care about the price. Yes, they try to get lower price from their suppliers - because the lower bills have higher chances to be paid. But they do not try to save every possible nickel and dime. Again, there are some fixed fees and delivery charges on a gas bill as well.

Why do we scream about the gasoline prices? Because we see them every day, on every intersection. And those are the prices we pay weekly, or twice a week. You would feel the same if you pay cash for your increasing heating and cooling (Wow! My $100 is now not enough! I used to pay my bill with $100 and even got some change!)