dan mccauley isn't complaining. the natural gas bill for his chicago bakery was $50 lower in december than it was the previous year. >> any little bit helps, obviously, because when you think about saving a penny here, a dime there, it all adds up. >> reporter: demand, or a lack of it, isn't the only reason nat gas prices are plummeting. utilities had expected a colder than normal winter and socked away more of it last fall. on top of that, the u.s. has been producing a mother load of natural gas, thanks to new technology that enables producers to extract it from areas once unreachable. but with prices so low, morningstar energy analyst robert bellinski says many producers are now suspending some exploration and drilling. >> there's not enough demand, despite the price coming down, at a fast enough rate to offset that supply. and gas is landlocked within north america. there's no real methods of exporting it to other countries because, a few years ago, we thought we were going to have a lack of supply of natural gas