TRAVERSE CITY, MI -- Keeping warm during the winter season can be expensive for most people.

As temperatures drop most people crank up the thermostat.

This year customers of the two biggest gas companies in Northern Michigan are getting a break on their gas bills.

Steve Rawlings from DTE Energy says, "We have a number of customers in our service territory who have been suffering with high energy cost and energy bills so we're happy to bring some relief to them this upcoming season."

Rawlings says the company's 250,000 Northern Michigan customers can expect to see their monthly bill decrease by $15 dollars this winter.

This means an average bill from November to December will be about $148 dollars which is down from about $163 dollars last winter.

The company can offer these lower rates because natural gas prices have dropped statewide by almost 5% this year.

Rawlings says, "We are not only able to purchase it for less but we were able to store vast amount of that gas in our storage network..which allowed us to take greater advantage of the purchasing power we have"

Dan Bishop from Consumer's Energy says their customers will see a 3% savings this winter.

Bishop says, "A typical Consumers residential gas customer can expect to pay about $148 dollars this winter that's down from about $5 dollars compared to about one year ago and down about $8 dollars a month compared to two years ago."

Both DTE and Consumers Energy realize even with these savings some customers have a hard time paying their gas bills.

You can contact both companies for information about assistance programs:

Consumers Energy Customers can call: (800) 477-5050

DTE Energy MichCon Customers can call: (800) 477-4747