Natural Gas Rate

Mike T., Swampeast MO

Just received latest utility statement. Current gas rate appears to be $1.4585/therm!!! Our utility company produces the most useless statement imaginable and natural gas regulation in MO is as complicated as the US national budget but as last I understood there is a minimum usage charge, not a base plus usage.

The middle of the country ain't exactly known for being a high income place to live.

Call me a bitter but:

1) That money "lost" to Enron is being repaid in spades (to all except Joe Blow investors).

2) The "free natural gas boilers" offered in parts of the Northeast (and MUCH lower gas rates, I believe) are part of a scam to get people to switch from fuel oil to gas.

3) The environmental kooks out west still think that such a thing as "pollution free" electricity exists.

Steamhead

Two out of three, Swampy

I weighed in on the "boiler-dumping" and the Enron debacle some time ago. You're right on both counts.

The only pollution-free source of electricity I can think of is hydro-electric. There are some environmental concerns with hydro but it does not generate pollutants the way fossil fuel and nuclear plants do. If a dam breaks that can be a problem.

Of course, this would be less of an issue if we didn't consume so much energy. As I see it, a big part of a Wethead's job is to make a customer's system run as efficiently as possible. Everyone wins this way.

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Mike T., Swampeast MO

The ORIGINAL source of commercial electricity

NIAGARA FALLS!!!!!

Too bad that the man who invented our PRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION and CONSUMPTION of electricity was IGNORED AS A DREAMER!!!!!

We should be on 220V where "ground" is a moot point. The "current war" (AC/DC) caused this and we are stuck with an inefficient usage of electricity as a result.

I sincerely believe that were it not for J. P. Morgan that we REALLY WOULD have a "free and inexhaustable" supply of energy. Tesla actually understood how to turn diffuse energy into concentrated energy.

Too bad you can't sell what's free!

Joe_10

Natural gas prices

Did you know that there are several new power plants going online to generate electricity. As you noted natural gas prices haven't dropped this year. They even here in the southwest are 3X higher now than a year ago. Some who watch the industry from the outside are saying that natural gas production is ready to plummet because reserves are running out. And gas reserves don't slowly fade when the wells go dry that's it. Something to think about.

Joe

Jack Smith

It's all a bunch of crap, and I'm surprise how many of you good

God fearing people believe it. We are not over polluting our earth, do you think the creator wouldn't be way out ahead of us enough to have created a world that would be self cleaning and adaptable? And does anybody really believe that we are running out of natural resources? Only 5% of our country is developed with any kind of infrastructure, can you imagine how much smaller that percentage is in other under developed countries? I'm all for high tech and high efficiency everything, but not because I'm worried about the environment, but because I like saving myself and others money. Just the two cents of a God fearing conservative Replublican.

Steve Ebels

I can't believe

The natural gas rates I hear quoted from other parts of the country. $1.45 a therm?????!!!!!!!! UNREAL!!!
Here in Northern Mich my gas bill with all additional charges is at $.53/therm. I can't believe that distribution charges would make almost a buck difference in the price.

On the environmental side of things, let me relate this. I was talking the other day with a guy that's been working with Consumers Power (the local gas/electric supplier) since the early 70's. I asked him what their cheapest source of electricity is. Coal, nat gas, nuke, bio, hydro or what. He told me they can generate a KW for about 2 1/4 cents with their pumped storage plant in Ludington.

This is an interesting plant. They built a huge pond/lake up on the high banks of Lake Michigan back in the late 70's early 80's. I'm talking probably a couple square miles big. It's elevated about 300' above Lake Michigan level. During the day they run water from their pond through some big hydro driven turbines back into Lake Michigan. At night when demand is low they use excess power off the grid to run some seriously BIG pumps, taking water from Lake Michigan and running it back up hill into their pond. The cycle repeats again the next day.

They had plans for one about 4 times as big up by Traverse City but the eco-nazi's made their life so miserable that they abandoned the plan.

I don't get it. These people scream about clean power and they shut something like this down. This is a pollution free form of KW and they worried about the pumps sucking up minnows and crap like that. When will they understand that everything comes at a price. It's about as ignorant as California (a state with severe electricity problems )wanting to go to electric "pollution free" vehicles. Duh! Where do they think that electricity is going to come from? What do they think is going to generate it?

eleft_4

?????!!!!!!!! UNREAL!!!

SE, the pipe line is a regulated unit and is in the same ball park as any other regulated or protectionism of the transportation industry.
Some call it controlled by a lobby.
"for the people by the people".....do you need a bridge in the desert? I have one for sale.

al

Gary Myers

Here in the Boston area it is $1.23/CCF when I divide my bill by the number of CCF used. Their quoted rate is $0.99 / CCF though. I agree, they make the bill very complicated. I looked at my old statements from 1995 - 1996 and it was basically one-to-one dollars-to-CCF back then.

I think my 200,000 BTU hr (input) steam boiler burns about 2 CCF per hour; that really adds up in those cold months!

Regards.
Gary Myers