Patricia Doxsey is reporting for the Daily Freeman the recent cold temperatures left area residents struggling to keep warm and oil companies struggling to keep up with demand for heating fuel. "It’s been a heck of a three weeks,” Ken Davenport, an owner of HeritagEnergy in Lake Katrine, said January 9. Davenport said that unlike in some years when frigid temperatures impeded the transport of crude, resulting in a lack of supply, this time the problems were the result of an unprecedented demand. Davenport said his company delivered more fuel during the first eight days of January than during that same amount of time since 2000. January 8 was the first day temperatures in the region topped the freezing mark since Christmas Day. Ammed Kahn, owner of Sunshine Fuels in Kingston, said customers were going through 75 to 100 gallons of fuel a week. "That's nuts," he said. Kahn said consumption was so great his company could not get to everyone. Michael O’Connor, director of the New York Public Research Group’s fuel buyers group, warned that increased demand means increased prices for consumers. According to the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority, the average regional fuel price is now $3.149 per gallon, almost twice what it was over the summer. Read the full story in the Daily Freeman.