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.
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”
In response to “Natural Gas Could Be Bigger Than the Internet, Welch Says”
Written by Michael Vrtis, President of Realgy Energy Services in response to the CNBC article “Natural Gas Could Be Bigger Than the Internet, Welch Says”
I greatly admire Mr. Welch, having worked for him at one time. I read his article with interest and thought his statements invited comment.
Natural gas availability has been plentiful and the availability of more domestic supply calls for long term planning considerations.
U.S. Natural Gas Marketed Production from 1900 to 2012 – courtesy of EIA
In planning for the long term, consider just the following two facts:
The United States already has a more than $2.00 advantage per dekatherm (MCF) over the rest of the world. The US average cost of natural gas is about $4.00 and the remainder of the world is over $6.00.
The amount of gas discovered and presently available has occurred with a method of recovery (hydraulic fracturing or fracking) that has been exempt from most of the Federal environmental regulations. State environmental regulations are not superseded by this Federal action. Thus, states can set their own environmental regulation. The growing state concern is ground water pollution, considering that it takes only 1-2 drops of a petroleum product (frack fluid) to make over 1,000 gals of ground water undrinkable.
So it is not regulation that will prevent natural gas from accelerating the US economy. Instead it is the over inflation of a political issue instead of any economic or environmental issue
Reducing our cost of natural gas has already occurred, reducing it further should not come at the expense of ground water.
Mr. Welch was a great business leader but his comments on regulation of natural gas fracking appear geared more toward political posturing than balancing the economic and environmental concerns that come with recovering natural gas.
Check out the CNBC article: “Natural Gas Could Be Bigger Than the Internet, Welch Says”
Storage Season is here!
The natural gas you have stored starting April 1st running through October 31st will begin to be added into your monthly natural gas usage from November 1st through March 31st.
You have probably noticed your summer bills were a little higher than normal, this is because Realgy Energy Services has been storing 20% of your natural gas annual usage at the lower summer rates, to be used during the winter months when the demand and more importantly the pricing for natural gas historically increase.
You may be asking do I have natural gas in storage, and if so how much?
If you are a customer of Realgy Energy Services and you live in Indiana or Illinois and are services by one of the following Utilities: Nicor, Nipsco, North Shore and Peoples Gas.
You most likely have natural gas in storage.
To find out how much natural gas you have in storage you can either:
Log into your account and view your account summary
Call one of our customer services representatives at (877) 300 6747
Enjoy the saving that the Realgy Energy Services Storage Program provides and have a wonderful toasty warm winter!
Can locomotives run on natural gas?
That is the ground-breaking question Canadian National Railway is hoping to answer by retrofitting the diesel engines in two 3,000-horsepower Electro-Motive Diesel SD40-2 locomotives to run on natural gas.
Two natural gas-fired locomotives courtesy of Canadian National Railway Handout
These two locomotives will not be fueled solely by natural gas but by a mix of 90 per cent natural gas and 10 per cent diesel fuel for ignition. The natural gas retrofit seems like a logical step for the railway industry as roughly 25 percent of crude and natural gas from shale deposits is currently carried by train. Not to mention all the drilling materials, construction equipment and machinery that are also moved by the railways.
Canadian National is testing the two locomotives along the 298-mile stretch between Edmonton, a natural gas pipeline hub, and Fort McMurray, an oilsands production site.
“CN launched this locomotive test to explore the use of natural gas as a potential alternative to conventional diesel fuel. This reflects CN’s continuing drive to look for ways to improve operating efficiency and advance the company’s sustainability agenda,” said Keith Creel, executive vice-president and chief operating officer.
Two natural gas-fired locomotives courtesy of Canadian National Railway Handout
Switching to natural gas will reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 per cent and nitrogen oxide emissions by 70 per cent over a locomotive duty cycle.
Canadian National is also working on a longer-term project to develop an all-new natural gas locomotive engine as well as a specialized tank car to carry the fuel.
Sources:
Canadian National, Press Release, CN tests natural gas/diesel fuel powered locomotives between Edmonton and Fort McMurray, Alta.
National Post, Canada, Natural gas-powered locomotive drives CN into eco-friendly(er) future
Energy & Capital, Natural Gas Engines for Trains
Realgy Energy Services has been approved to serve Illinois electric and natural gas commercial and residential markets
At the request of our current Electric and Natural Gas customers Realgy has sought and received approval from the Illinois Commerce Commission to expand our services in the Illinois energy markets.
“This is the next logical step in Realgy’s plan to expand in the Illinois energy market and is the perfect complement to our existing gas services in the Nicor, Peoples, and North Shore markets,” stated Michael Vrtis, President of Realgy.
The Realgy Energy Services Illinois electric service area now includes both commercial and residential customers in Commonwealth Edison, Ameren Illinois, MidAmerican Energy and Mt. Carmel Public Utility. Realgy was previously only approved to serve commercial Commonwealth Edison customers.
The Illinois natural gas service area now includes both commercial and residential customers in Nicor, Peoples Gas, and North Shore. Realgy was previously only approved to serve commercial Nicor, Peoples Gas, and North Shore customers.
If you would like to enroll a residential or commercial account in any of these service areas, contact a Realgy Energy Services Energy Broker, at (877)-300 -6747 X 32 and have your bills ready.
For the full press release please visit the Realgy Energy Services Blog Press Release: Realgy Energy Services Now Offering Electricity Services to all Illinois Customers and Press Release: Realgy Energy Services Now Offering Natural Gas Services to all Illinois Customers
PriceWatch™ and Natural Gas Storage Season
It is that time of the year when Realgy Energy Services starts to send out our PriceWatch™ emails; look for it in your email anytime from October to November. Supplies of natural gas in storage begin to be applied to your monthly natural gas usage starting November 1st.
PriceWatch™ monitors the natural gas market to pin-point the most advantageous time for our natural gas customers to lock in a rate for the winter heating months.
Realgy will only send out a PriceWatch™ email if we can lock our customers in at a rate that will save them money. If you would like more information on PriceWatch™, please visit our blog post What is PriceWatch™?
Natural Gas Storage is the service of purchasing a percentage of your annual gas usage during the summer months and storing it. This stored gas is then delivered to you during the winter months. That is why we call it “winter gas at summer prices.”
Realgy offers this storage program whenever we can. If your utility allows Realgy to offer a storage program, it will be listed in our Service Plan table on our website realgyenergyservices.com.
For more information on the Natural Gas Storage program please visit our blog posts: Natural Gas Storage Season is Here and So What Exactly is Natural Gas Storage
If you have any further questions please feel free to contact a Realgy Energy Services Customer Service Representative by phone (877)-300-6747, by email support@realgy.com, by fax (860)-233 -3884, or by mail 675 Oakwood Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06110.
In response to “Natural Gas Increases are Diminishing Carbon Emissions”
Written by Michael Vrtis President of Realgy Energy Services in response to the EnergyBiz article “Natural Gas Increases are Diminishing Carbon Emissions”
The use of natural gas is decreasing carbon emission which in turn is decreasing the contribution of the US to global warming.
U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions in early 2012 lowest since 1992 – courtesy of EIA
Since 2007 it’s over a 10% decrease. The abundance of natural gas is decreasing the price the US pays and is reducing the impact of our emissions. This trend will continue.
Although all fuels contribute, natural gas being the cleanest fossil fuel contributes the least.
Check out the EnergyBiz article: “Natural Gas Increases are Diminishing Carbon Emissions”