In response to “Quinn vetoes ComEd rate hike bill”
Written by Michael Vrtis, President of Realgy Energy Services in response to the Crain’s article “Quinn vetoes ComEd rate hike bill”
Governor Quinn is sending a political message that should not pass through more thoughtful consideration of legislators. ComEd has already received approval from the legislators to bypass the ICC in their review and approval of their rates. ComEd has politicized the rate setting process instead of relying on the experienced technical and financial input of regulators.
While they may be successful in the short term, eventually the regulators will have to review their rates and then the balance will likely be restored. Allowing politicians to approve utility plans is not good policy and is even worse for rate payers.
Check out the Crain’s article: “Quinn vetoes ComEd rate hike bill”
The City of Northville has accepted a bid from Realgy Energy Services to supply natural gas
PRESS RELEASE 17 MAY 2013 | By: Realgy, LLC
Realgy Energy Services has won a bid to supply the City of Northville with natural gas through the Michigan utility Consumers Energy.
On Monday May 6th the City Council of Northville approved a bid placed by Realgy Energy Services to supply natural gas to the city. Realgy Energy Services out bid two other competing companies for the right to supply the city with natural gas.
The City of Northville started exploring the possibility of finding a lower cost alternative gas supplier in April. The City Council sent a request for proposals to seven alternative gas suppliers, all licensed with the Michigan Public Service Commission and also certified to operate in the Consumers Energy territory.
Out of the seven alternative gas suppliers, the top three were Options Utility Consulting, Xoom Energy, and Realgy Energy Services. By contracting with Realgy Energy Services, the City of Northville will save approximately 19% or $7,592.70 per year, based on their usage from last year and an average cost of $4.03/MCF. Realgy Energy Services will provide natural gas to the City of Northville, city employees and city employee family members for the term of the contract.
Realgy Energy Services is comprised of a group of people who worked for many years with large utilities, energy service companies, and energy marketers. Within these organizations, they saw the limitations of the systems and software and decided they could provide a more efficient service. First formed in 1999, Realgy Energy Services today is a retail energy marketer and wholesale energy provider in three deregulated states, Michigan, Indiana, and Illinois with plans to expand. Realgy has had a perfect record (certified A+) with the Better Business Bureau; http://ct.bbb.org since 2003 and has been recognized as an Inc 500 | 5000 company in 2011 and 2012. http://www.inc.com/inc5000/profile/realgy
Contacts:
Realgy, LLC
Michael Vrtis
675 Oakwood Avenue
West Hartford, CT
860-233-2270
www.realgyenergyservices.com
ServiceMatch™
For all our natural gas and electric customers not currently on a fixed price, Realgy offers ServiceMatchTM as follows:
ServiceMatchTMBuyer has the right to present all written offers to RES that provide pricing and terms for service under the Program. RES will match the proposed terms and pricing from all qualified electric or natural gas service providers. If RES cannot offer better terms or pricing or match the same terms and pricing, RES will transfer Buyer to the new electric or natural gas supplier upon Buyer’s written request at the end of the Term. ServiceMatchTM is not valid when Buyer has a Fixed Price.
Please be aware that ServiceMatchTM is not a new service.
Realgy offers this and other services including but not limited to PriceWatchTM and natural gas storage, to all our eligible customers.
If you have any questions regarding ServiceMatchTM, fixed prices, or the end of your current Term, contact a Realgy Energy Services customer service representative at 860-300-6747.
The Realgy Energy Saver
Realgy Energy Services has a server room that generates plenty of heat from the hardware housed there. Accordingly, we have to use air conditioners to prevent damage to the hardware. This past winter, Mathew Sudowski, Director of Sales, came up with a way for Realgy Energy Services to recover the heat lost by the air conditioner exhaust from the Realgy server room. This heat recovery helped to increase the efficiency of the furnace. Because the furnace draws in air from the two upper levels as well as the basement where the server room and air conditioner are located, this plan worked perfectly.
Mathew Sudowski, Director of Sales
With the help of a local HVAC company, Realgy was able to retrofit the air conditioner exhaust, and reduce the workload of the Realgy office furnace. This retrofit also helped to save the company money over the winter season.
View of the AC exhaust retrofit
To find out how a natural gas furnace works check out this article “How a Natural Gas Furnace Works”
How a Natural Gas Furnace Works
Natural gas forced-air furnaces are by far the most popular method of heating in North America, mainly because they can distribute heated air from a central furnace to every room of the house and they can also be used in conjunction with a central AC unit.
The basic components of a forced-air system include:
- An air handler, which may be either a stand-alone blower cabinet used with a heat pump or a forced-air furnace that includes a blower
- A means of heating air, such as natural gas-fueled burners
- Ductwork for delivering cold air to the heater via a return
- Ductwork for sending heated air back to rooms via some vents
- A thermostat for turning the system on and off
A natural gas furnace reacts to changes in a room’s temperature. When the air temperature in the room drops below the thermostat’s set temperature, it alerts the furnace. Cold air is then drawn from the room’s return through ductwork into the cold air return and through an air filter. The burner ignites to heat the air as it moves through the furnace. The circulating fan helps the warmed air circulate through the ductwork and back into the room via vents. The cycle continues until the set comfort level is reached at which point the thermostat turns the system off until the next time the temperature drops.
Sources:
Wikipedia, “Furnace”
Buzzl, “How does a Gas Furnace Work“
In Response to “Local Communities on a Continent of Cheap Natural Gas”
Written by Michael Vrtis, President of Realgy Energy Services in response to the Forbes article “Local Communities on a Continent of Cheap Natural Gas”
So what does having an abundant source of fuel (in our case, natural gas) within our own country mean?
In a word, business! The article points out some of the industries that could directly benefit from having large natural gas reserves. These industries will take notice and manufacturer planning will develop. But the impact is well beyond just a few industries.
Consider the following benefits;
- In the competitive business world, a $0.10 edge is huge. However consider a $2.00 edge. That is the equivalent advantage that local natural gas production provides.
- Local natural gas prices are not tied to the price of oil. That is, oil prices can vary without ANY impact on local natural gas costs/prices.
- Natural gas had been previously piped thousands of miles (albeit efficiently, as pipe line operations are very efficient) but that cost would then cease.
- Planning for long-term commitments; the natural gas field has a 100-year production life with current technology (let alone what will be developed).
- Its emissions are much cleaner than oil.
Responsible development of our natural resources is imperative. The benefit will have a more reaching effect.
Check out the Forbes article: “Local Communities on a Continent of Cheap Natural Gas”