DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 1,746 Bcf as of Friday, March 19, 2021, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net decrease of 36 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 263 Bcf less than last year at this time and 78 Bcf below the five-year average of 1,824 Bcf. At 1,746 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 1,782 Bcf as of Friday, March 12, 2021, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net decrease of 11 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 253 Bcf less than last year at this time and 93 Bcf below the five-year average of 1,875 Bcf. At 1,782 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
Gas and electric prices soar; billing impacts, utility pricing to increase, investigations begin
Weather always impacts energy markets. Massive weather changes impact National energy markets.
The latest Polar Vortex of February 2021 covered nearly 2/3 of North America. The result in the energy markets was immediate. Customers used more energy to stay warm. Utilities demanded more energy to meet demand. Pipelines and electric lines had massive draws.
Prices increased. However, electric generation could not respond as some weren’t winterized and couldn’t start. Gas pipelines originating from Texas and Oklahoma restricted gas supply leaving those states. This resulted in gas pipelines not delivering the request for more gas.
Prices soared, utilities and gas pipelines declared the results of the polar vortex as an unforeseeable circumstance or force majeure. THIS ALLOWED them to make demands and pass-through costs without restraint.
Realgy DOES NOT benefit from any of these events. OUR COSTS to pipelines and utilities went up nearly 10 times. These costs are just passed through. IT’S PAINFUL for us and you, we understand that.
So, energy suppliers feel the costs first. Realgy has to pay our pipeline and supplier for February 2021 gas and delivery already. It’s 10 times what we planned, we had to borrow money to pay these energy costs.
Utilities have seen these costs and will pass them through to their utility supply (gas and electric) over the coming months.
The impact of the February 2021 Polar Vortex:
Yes, every energy supplier marketer/utility suffered higher costs. Yes, every marketer/utility will recover these costs. Yes, utility rates will go up to collect these purchases.
Realgy is doing everything possible to recover only the costs associated with the pipelines and utilities declaring the force majeure. We will offer relief to our customers to help.
Here is a typical reply from utilities:
“Over the last two weeks due to the extreme cold and the incredible demand on the system due to the wintry weather across the nation including Texas, we had to go to market to meet demand above our base plan and we did see higher prices due to the extreme cold that extended into Texas and impacted gas supply.” Sandstrom added he does not know yet what the customer billing impact is going to be but will be working with their regulators to help mitigate impacts to customers. “I also want to clarify that we don’t profit from higher natural gas prices, we are just a distributor and our commodity costs essentially get passed through to our customers. We definitely saw a price spike in the commodity costs for a few days, but bills will tend to be higher regardless as customers used more gas to heat their homes during the polar vortex.”
The investigations are beginning:
State level:
In a letter sent Saturday to federal regulators, Smith said the price spikes will not harm just consumers but, could “threaten the financial stability of some utilities that do not have sufficient cash reserves to cover their short-term costs in this extraordinary event.” The letter was sent to the Energy Department, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. A copy of the letter was obtained by The Associated Press.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced today that its Office of Enforcement is examining wholesale natural gas and electricity market activity during last week’s extreme cold weather to determine if any market participants engaged in market manipulation or other violations.
If the Office of Enforcement finds any potential wrongdoing that can be addressed under FERC’s statutory authority, it will pursue those matters as non-public investigations.
Federal level:
FERC explained that this examination will take place as part of the Division of Analytics and Surveillance’s (DAS) ongoing surveillance of market participant behavior in the wholesale natural gas and electricity markets. The Division uses market participant-level trading data and data from the financial markets to screen daily and monthly trading at the majority of physical and financial natural gas trading hubs in the US and the organized and bilateral wholesale electricity markets. DAS closely identifies and scrutinizes any potentially anticompetitive or manipulative behavior to determine if an investigation is appropriate.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer in the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 7 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
Additional Information:
https://www.wdio.com/duluth-minnesota-news/natural-gas-utlities-price-spike-impact/6022819/
https://news.wttw.com/2021/02/20/senator-seeks-probe-natural-gas-price-spikes-during-storm
DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 1,845 Bcf as of Friday, February 26, 2021, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net decrease of 98 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 277 Bcf less than last year at this time and 178 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,023 Bcf. At 1,845 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 1,943 Bcf as of Friday, February 19, 2021, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net decrease of 338 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 298 Bcf less than last year at this time and 161 Bcf below the five-year average of 2,104 Bcf. At 1,943 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 2,281 Bcf as of Friday, February 12, 2021, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net decrease of 237 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 105 Bcf less than last year at this time and 57 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,224 Bcf. At 2,281 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
Brutal Cold grips central United States
Temperatures have dropped more than 40° below the average.
Power costs have soared from $4 / MWh to over $600 / MWh.
Most of the news we are seeing is coming from Texas for several reasons:
- Well, it is really cold; well below freezing for nearly 5 days.
- Texas is a power island. They have no connections outside of Texas so, other states cannot supply power for them.
- Texas’ energy infrastructure is not built for freezing temperatures. This results in water main breaks, gas pipes freezing, and power equipment not operating properly.
Outside of Texas the Polar Vortex will have economic impact but, electricity and gas are generally staying on.
If your power or heat is interrupted, CALL your local utility.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer in the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 7 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
Additional Information: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/02/16/us/winter-storm-texas-power-outage-map.html?action=click&module=Spotlight&pgtype=Homepage
How Extreme Cold Turned Into a U.S. Energy Crisis
Over the past several days, extraordinary cold weather in the US from a polar vortex caused record temperatures across the country. Electricity and heating fuel costs skyrocketed while energy demand hit record levels. Millions of customers dealt with blackouts for the first time in a decade. Gas lines seized, wind turbines froze, and oil wells shut in. Across the grid in Texas, all energy sources had problems with some reasons still unknown. Texas’s emergency state will allow for more resources to become available and ensure residences, medical facilities, and related consumers are the priority to receive fuel first. The energy market in Texas is one of the most competitive in the US and power providers have to be prepared for extreme events such as this one. If not, they are set up for failure. Texas and Washington policy makers may need to review their system and make some changes to ensure a similar crisis is prevented or handled better.
Realgy Energy Services is a registered Retail Energy Marketer in the states of Illinois, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio. We offer Service Plans that will provide electric and natural gas at wholesale pricing direct to customers without any utility markup. Our Service Plans work with the local utility to provide seamless service and annual energy savings. Service Plans include Guaranteed SavingsTM, ManagedPriceTM, ManagedGreenTM Index, Fixed and PriceAssuranceTM.
Realgy owns and operates 7 solar plants in Illinois and is looking to invest in additional locations.
Additional Information: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-02-15/how-extreme-cold-turned-into-a-u-s-energy-crisis-quicktake