With the leaves starting to change and jackets becoming abundant on campus, it can only mean one thing – off-campus students are starting to have the beginning-of-winter household tension.

One roommate will turn the heat up to 72 degrees and another will walk by the thermostat and turn it off completely, arguing it is too early in the year to pay for heat.

Senior Jeff Wineke has lived off campus for three years and knows that heat is one nasty bill that can add up a lot throughout winter.

Last winter heating costs were down from the previous year, but this winter they are expected to be on the rise again.

“It’s bad enough that you have to pay for all your normal utilities, but then you find out that you’re going to be paying extra on one utility,” Wineke said. “It makes going through college a little harder.”

Brian Elwood, spokesman for Xcel Energy, said a natural gas bill is made up of two components – the cost it takes Xcel to provide its customer’s with its service and the cost Xcel pays to buy gas.

Elwood said the first rate has remained virtually unchanged for the past seven years, but the latter is what increases or decreases student’s heating bills because it varies as the cost of gas rises and falls.

Last year students saw less-than-nasty heating bills as prices were 28 percent lower than the previous year. This year a 7 to 10 percent increase from last year is predicted, Elwood said.

“I think any time you compare prices to last winter you’re going to see that increase,” he said. “The wholesale price of gas last year, along with last year’s extremely warm winter, saw almost historic low levels for the cost of natural gas.”

Students can do several things to keep their heating bills down. Rather than turning that thermostat up this early in the winter, Elwood suggests students contact their landlords to see what can be done to make their house more energy efficient.

“Heating bills are certainly an expense that can be controlled,” Elwood said.

Wineke said his house is large and poorly insulated, as many student houses are. Elwood said students should be aware of rooms that are not used and close the vents to those rooms.

He also suggests asking the landlord to seal leaky doors and windows. Tenants can put plastic up over the windows to keep the cold air out and warm air in.

People often worry about natural gas prices going up in wartime.

Elwood said he doesn’t anticipate heating bills increasing this winter if the United States goes to war.

“The biggest factor in natural gas prices is weather, pure and simple,” he said.

There are some impacts a war may have on the economy that could affect the prices, but it wouldn’t really play a huge role, he said.

Weather is the deciding factor because when it is cold there is a greater demand for natural gas.

An increased demand will raise prices.