Natural Gas Wholesale Price Plummets

[SubLGT]

According to a NYT article, the spot price (wholesale price?) of natural gas has plummeted from $13/1000 cu ft, down to $4/1000 cu ft. And yet the local utility is asking the PUC for a 3% rate increase for residential customers in 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/energy-environment/21gas.html?em

 

[daves87rs]

 

[Steelhead]

great

now maybe the price of that expensive lab certified full "synthetic oil" will drop from it's spiraling price climb the last couple years.

Natural gas is a prime component in the production of "synthetic oil" PAO and in fertilizer which is used to grow the base material of esters.

oh wait, some "synthetics" come out of the old Cretaceous period rotten plant hydrocarbon products trapped in rock formations.

guess there is no hope. the pricing is all hot air

maybe we'll find some "synthetic" natural gas, the cheap type?

 

[XS650]

Originally Posted By: SubLGT
According to a NYT article, the spot price (wholesale price?) of natural gas has plummeted from $13/1000 cu ft, down to $4/1000 cu ft. And yet the local utility is asking the PUC for a 3% rate increase for residential customers in 2009.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/21/business/energy-environment/21gas.html?em


The price changed, so they feel justified in charging you more. Nothing new there.

 

[Mark888]

The Gas Companies feel justified to raise their prices because demand has gone down as people try to conserve energy and as the economy weakens. So they have raise the per unit cost to cover make the same amount of money as before. Typical of government regulated businesses.

That reminds me of one city where I lived that had a City Zoo. The attendance at the Zoo was slipping so they decided to raise the prices to cover their costs. Of course, this caused the attendance to reduce even more and total revenues declined further.

 

[Shannow]

My electricity consumption dropped lats quarter, but my bill went up.

The wholesale cost to the retailers dropped (too many generators), and the retailers are lobbying for a 20% increase in prices to households (have been dropping prices to business)...

 

[Brett Miller]

My local utility has dropped rates a few times as wholesale prices dropped.