>Jim,
>
>Explain to me this, please. I have heard a couple of days ago on the news that the price for heating gas will go up by about 20% this year. And the news report stated that we get (I am in New England) natural gas mostly from Canada. Who sets the price for heating gas?
>

Buyers and sellers set the price. There is also an openly traded futures market, where people agree to buy or sell a commodity at a given price, at some point in time in the future. Expectations of supply an demand in the future affect the price at which someone is willing to buy or sell a given futures contract.

So the price is not just "set", so to speak. If someone says I'm willing to pay $20, and someone else says I'll sell it for $20, then the deal is done, and the price at that point in time is $20.