Forecasts of cold spells yet to come are sending chills up Miss-Lou residents’ spines … and with good reason.

The rising price of natural gas is being passed along to utility customers through higher rates – for both customers of gas services and electric companies, many of which rely on natural gas for producing electricity.

And, the resulting monthly utility bills are shocking, to say the least. In the last week we’ve read of Miss-Lou residents on fixed incomes struggling to cope with doubled utility bills; of utility companies predicting more increases to come; of a frighteningly dire situation in California, where utilities are facing bankruptcy, customers are facing 7 percent rate increases and no one can guaranty the power supply will be enough to meet demands.

What is going on in the energy business? And what lies ahead — from deregulation to alternative power supplies?

These are real, and important, questions these days. We’ve posed those questions to energy providers, analysts and others and their answers appear in a series of stories that begins today.

Ultimately, no one knows what the future holds for our nation’s energy supply. But, we do know it is an issue that touches every aspect of our lives – from our pocketbooks when the monthly utility bills arrive to our health and safety which are threatened by the blackouts and brownouts caused by inadequate energy supplies. Our society is dependent on energy supplies – for everything from the technology that powers our televisions and our Internet servers to the heaters and furnaces that warm our homes.

We owe it to ourselves to reach beyond the sticker shock that comes from these alarmingly high utility bills to understand how these changes will impact our lives in future months and years.