USC's natural gas cost for December was $686,643, about $400,000 more than December 1999.

"The unusually cold temperatures and higher natural gas prices have affected us quite a bit," said Charles Stevenson, assistant director for energy services at USC. "Our consumption rose 9.4 percent, but our costs went up considerably higher. A major portion of the increase in consumption was due to added loads from Graduate Science and the new East Quad dormitory."

USC uses natural gas to fire steam boilers for domestic hot water and building heating. Because of the spike in natural gas costs, the University switched over to No. 2 fuel oil to fire its boilers during January. The quoted price for natural gas decreased equivalent to the cost for oil somewhat in February, and USC's energy plants switched back this month to natural gas.

In September 1999, USC's Board of Trustees approved an energy master plan that calls for replacing inefficient boilers, chillers, and other energy infrastructure on the Columbia campus. The new equipment is expected to save millions of dollars over an 11-year span. Meanwhile, USC's electricity usage has risen about 4.4 percent this fiscal year, and its electricity costs have increased about 4.5 percent.

"The good news is that even with bringing on the Graduate Science Research Center and East Quad this past year, we haven't seen a huge spike in our electricity usage. That's because some of the current ongoing energy conservation master plan projects have already begun to save money," Stevenson said.

USC's electricity bill for fiscal year 2000 was $7.4 million. The electricity bill for the Graduate Science Research Center is expected to run about $427,000 annually, or about 5.6 percent of USC's total electricity costs.