Natural gas prices are rising. That’s worse news for ratepayers than utilities.
Higher energy prices: who pays them?
A utility pays for them BUT passes the costs through to customers. Utilities do not own the natural gas or they own very little electric generation. They buy on the wholesale market and pay market-based rates. Usually, their payment terms are to buy the gas and electricity but pay for it 60 days after its used. In that way, they use it in the current month, let’s say January, invoice for it in February, and pay the wholesale company back in March. Then do it all again. So, the price they pass through to customers is normally delayed 60 days.
Energy marketers or third-party suppliers buy in the wholesale market and typically repay the wholesale company after 30 days. This means they invoice the current cost immediately. So, there is no delay like with the utilities.
HOWEVER, in both cases the customers end up paying for the wholesale supply. The only question is, do you pay it immediately or after 60 days?
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://energynews.us/2022/10/12/natural-gas-prices-are-rising-thats-worse-news-for-ratepayers-than-utilities/
Increased Costs for Regulatory Oversight
Should Illinois gas utilities avoid regulatory oversight and continue allowing politicians to authorize them to spend BILLIONS to do their job? Previous articles highlight the fact that Nicor has spent billions and increased consumer’s costs, all to perform maintenance work that was NOT done for decades.
Gas utilities have a monopoly to deliver natural gas. They get paid to spend money to maintain their pipeline service network. That is; they ONLY make money when they SPEND money. However, they want to get paid more to maintain their network without any guarantee that what they spend produces benefits for the consumers.
Citizens Utility Board is trying to raise awareness that politicians should NOT give additional guarantees to utilities to do their job. Especially if it raises your costs without any requirement that the maintenance becomes useful for serving your gas needs.
Please follow the link below and lend your voice to responsible utility oversight.
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: Eliminate the QIP Surcharge (salsalabs.org)
DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 2,810 Bcf as of Friday, January 14, 2022, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net decrease of 206 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 226 Bcf less than last year at this time and 33 Bcf above the five-year average of 2,777 Bcf. At 2,810 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
Michigan’s stride to clean energy?
Michigan has over 10 utilities and each must submit to the MPSC their plan to reduce emissions.
Governor Whitmer will be issuing an executive order on Climate Solutions within the next months.
Consumers Energy is proposing to phase out all its coal plants by 2025, which is good. However, it further proposes to acquire and build new gas plants; less good.
DTE Energy will be filing their plan later in 2022.
Crafting energy policy is very delicate as it requires ramping up investment in alternatives while continuing to meet present energy needs.
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: What’s next for Michigan’s stride to clean energy? – Energy News Network
Natural gas surges 14% as cold snap ahead is expected to boost demand
US natural gas futures surged 14% in early January 2022. This is on top of recent increases beginning in the fall of last year. In early October into November 2021 oil and natural gas prices surged.
Natural gas is a commodity purchased from suppliers (including utilities) at published prices. Typically, the price referenced is the NYMEX. All natural gas suppliers are impacted by the same cost increase. However, some suppliers such as utilities can delay the impact due to their regulatory price recovery. This can be understood when utilities do not share storage with their third-party suppliers. Natural gas in storage will not increase when the market price does. Those utilities can appear to have a lower price when in fact they just bought the gas during the summer and stored it. Michigan utilities operate like this; they do not provide their customer choosing a gas supplier with their share of storage volume. Therefore, the energy suppliers in Michigan cannot readily offer storage to their customer. Illinois utilities share their storage volumes equally between choice and tariff customers. Therefore, Illinois customer choice customers have nearly 20% of their winter gas purchased during the summer. Realgy calls this our Storage Program see Storage – Realgy Energy Services.
Natural gas pricing was not expected to rise significantly. However, Covid, weather, and consumer behaviors changed that forecast.
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. Currently we are in construction of our 8th project with the park district of Highland Park.
Additional Information:
How Will the Natural Gas Shortage Impact Fuel Dealers and Homeowners? – OILMAN Magazine
Natural gas surges 14% as cold snap ahead is expected to boost demand (cnbc.com)
DOE EIA Weekly Gas Storage Report
Working gas in storage was 3,611 Bcf as of Friday, October 29, 2021, according to EIA estimates.
This represents a net increase of 63 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 313 Bcf less than last year at this time and 101 Bcf below the five-year average of 3,712 Bcf. At 3,611 Bcf, total working gas is within the five-year historical range.
Ameren Illinois, Nicor Gas customers should expect higher heating bills this winter
U.S. homeowners will see heating prices increase by as much as 54% according to the EIA. Ameren and Nicor are already warning Illinois customers to expect 30% higher bills. High demand, low supply, weather impacts, and natural gas inflation are forecast to cause commodity pricing to be the most expensive it’s been since 2008.
The utilities expect their cost to be 75% higher per therm this winter. If we have a milder winter, pricing impact should be lower. However, there are various ways to assist customers such as purchasing gas when it’s cheaper in the summer, energy savings tips, and payment and budget plans.
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.centralillinoisproud.com/news/local-news/ameren-illinois-nicor-gas-customers-should-expect-higher-heating-bills-this-winter/
Natural gas spikes during winter storm and regulatory commission wont require disclosure of pricing
The Polar Vortex of February 2021 sparked numerous lawsuits and multiple investigations at nearly every Government level. Consider Kansas.
The Kansas Attorney General is investigating the price spike and looking to enforce the states prohibition against anti-profiteering law.
However, the Kansas Corporation Commission (oversees regulatory matters) denied two motions of the anti-profiteering investigation.
Consider this statement from an oversight commission whose job includes ensuring open and fair price disclosure.
The commission said the consumer coalition “has not demonstrated that disclosure will benefit the public interest,” and release of the proprietary information has “great potential to harm current and future Kansas natural gas customers through higher purchased gas costs. A general argument in favor of transparency cannot outweigh this very real harm to customers.”
Yes, the commission responsible for regulatory oversight has said disclosure of pricing during the polar vortex COULD HARM customers. Mind you, the pricing has already been paid and this request is to see what contributed to the higher prices.
The principal role of a utility oversight board is to investigate pricing. Kansas Corporation Commission appears to stand alone in not wanting disclosure.
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: Kansas AG says winter storm natural gas prices appear illegal (salina.com)
Looking to save money through an alternative gas supplier?
The MPSC posted a press release today regarding the Michigan Choice Program. Realgy along with the MPSC recommends customers review contract terms when enrolling in a new program to fully understand agreement details. They offer tips on how to ensure clear understanding of alternate offers.
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.michigan.gov/mpsc/0,9535,7-395-93307_93313_17280-568345–,00.html
Michigan Launches Inquest into Power Outages
Last week’s Michigan storms left over 1 million customers without power. Many were in the dark for over a week. Damage assessment and restoration are a priority as is planning and preparation for these disasters. Residents want to see improvement in all areas and the MPSC states “… we have more work to do, and we have to do it faster.”
Concerns aren’t limited to the Midwest and are voiced across the country since the increase in frequent, intense storms are apparent. We can’t rely solely on historical data to prepare for the ever-changing weather. The MPSC is pushing utilities to be more transparent around their efforts while encouraging customers to discuss impacts of outages, especially those that are more at risk.
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://thesuntimesnews.com/g/chelsea-mi/n/39406/state-launches-inquest-power-outages