"Lock in" those natral gas rates now!

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gyrafoam

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For those of you who may not have noticed, the price per therm for natural gas has steadily crept up all summer. The current hurricane will not help matters either. The most CONSERVATIVE estimates are that natural gas will cost most American's AT LEAST %25 more this winter than the same period last year!

So call and compare companies-----and HAGGLE with them-----THEY WILL LOWER their quote if you "beat them up" a little! Most importantly "lock-in" the next 12 Months "rate per therm". I locked in at just over a dollar per therm, here in Atlanta (already a high priced market due to de-regulation). But a friend of mine dealt with the same provider I did and could not do better than $1.12 per therm today! So hurry up!
 
Same with fuel oil. I went from $1.69 (for 04/05) to $2.25 a gallon (for 05/06) even with a forward contract (costs $50) to lock in the rate. I am already ahead, based on prices at the gas (petrol) pump.

I see 74/75 oil/energy crisis happening again, when the price of energy sky-roecketed and led to double-digit inflation.

Personally IMHO, if you have any variable rate loans, lock them in now by refinancing.

There appears to be a bumpy road coming ahead.
I already expect to have heavy sweaters on-hand and cut the heat back drastically.

I will be insulating and adding doors on my main level to prevent heat from rising up the stairs to the guest suite on the top floor.
 
BTW a therm is defined as 100,000 BTU.
One gallon of fuel oil contains 140,000 BTU.

What your boilers/furnaces/hot-water heaters can harness of that depends on their efficiency.

This should help y'all make price comparisons between the fuels.
 
My house is a 1968 all electric. The central air conditioner (2 units) and upstairs heat was new, the downstairs heat is a Singer unit, original to the house. The highest electric bill I've had in 7 years of living there is $290. It was in December when I was running way too many Christmas lights.

Maybe all electic will come back.
 
Steve and I had this conversation last week, right after I got my latest gas & water bill. The cost of our natural gas per therm is roughly .873, even with a 30% increase as they are predicting (if it doesn't turn out to be another "the sky is falling" routine as in years past) that would only be approx. $1.13 +/-. We have never been able to lock in rates as our gas company is a public utility and is not setting prices motivated by profit.

I'm on a level payment plan with the utility company so my monthly amount doesn't change regardless of usage. The previous amount was $92/mo. and that has gone up to $151/mo. now. As in years past, they figure these budget payment amounts rather high and then in February, I've called to have the amount adjusted down to be more in line with the usage & cost.

It is going to be a rough winter I think, energy related expenses will cut into our budgets deeply - probably until we start rioting in the streets for a national comprehensive energy policy!
 
Greg, Be Thankful for MUD ;-)

MUD=Metropolitan Utilities District

The Council Bluffs gas company was "absorbed" into something called Aquila, and they are horrible. Being an old person, she heats her house to 95 degrees or so, and her bills in the winter are horrific.
 
Greg -- you're on the right track...

Quoting [see full context] gansky1: "...until we start rioting in the streets for a national comprehensive energy policy!"

This is the core -- and the solution. Remember the old movies in gradeschool of the days our common interests were brand new? There was one particular about industry and manufacturing "The Customer Is King."

Well, we let our crowns tarnish -- and the jewels have been removed. Until Americans regroup as consumers, we'll just continue to be raped by large organizations. Sure, natural gas costs are increasing at the tap, fuel oil, etc. -- but the energy companies are making record profits, piggybacking onto the ride. That won't change until enough people are bankrupt and lack resources. The problem is, we pay and pay and pay until that point...when the action needs to be done way before that point.

John
 
Comprehensive energy policy--

with this administration?

When pigs fly without the benefit of aeroplanes.

Lawrence/Maytagbear (who is already planning on 55F daytime, 50F night).
 
Actually friends "all-electric" in this area runs TRIPLE the price of heating with gas and/or oil.

So not an option. Plus based on the large population here there would not be enough electricity to go around. Our electrical grid in these northeast states (where A/C is not needed in all areas)is not sized for it.

Remember we pay $0.14 per KWH (B4 taxes) one of the highest in the nation.

Hawaii
LI (long Island)
New York City

are the highest in the country, in that order.

And this is the northern-most ridge of heat pumps being usable. So those don't help reduce the electircal heating expense much either. (Eemergeny back-up heat kicks in, more often than not-- which would be electric resistance coils.)
 
Comprehensive energy policy

Your post was spot-on, Lawrence! But from the administration view, this is probably something to be claimed as a success, not a problem! Reduce consumer energy costs!?!? What do you mean -- one does not bite the energy-company hand that feeds the elction campaign! Tsk tsk tsk...as far as the consumer -- shut up and keep writing those checks. You wanna see poor? Try having to drive a Lincoln yourself when your friends have chauffered Maybachs!

Alas, toggle brings up another good point. In '99 I worked for a gas pipeline company, Florida Gas Transmission Co. (FGT) - an affiate of uhmm...uh...*blush*...er...Enron. I was a Database Administrator. Yeah, that's it. First Database Admin job I ever had with a 10-key calculator, a shredding machine as tools, and "The Writers Guide to Fiction" as a daily reference. But that's not the point. The point is FGT supplies a major share of the natural gas used in the state of Florida. All to power the turbines of utilities supplying electric power to consumers and business. So, pulling out that Maytag with the slick-looking flame, then pushing in the other with the lightning bolt might shift the cost in your home. But only your home.

I fear hard times ahead, from this, and the resultant effect. Wages have long been stagnant but consumer costs have not. This means extra money paid for natgas and its resultant resources, cannot be paces by the consumer's wage -- but must be taken from some other area of the consumer's budget. Like when a company announces layoffs, and says x amount of workers will be laid off. That's horrible. And it's also x amount of workers wages that will no longer be in the econony, providing input. Large business can replace this by offshoring, lowering the expense picture -- but we can't offshore our energy needs, our healthcare, our fuel guages on 'E'. Toss a rock into a lake. The rock disappears immediately, the ripples continue for a time. But those ripplies diminish from the center outward -- consumer costs do not.

John
 
jaxsunst

You're probably getting cheap Tennesssee Valley Authority
hydro-electric power

Most people can't negotiate natural gas rates, there's usually only one company serving an area, unlike fuel oil
 
I would kiss the ground for a $290 per month peak electric bill.

I am VERY careful with the central cooling and am not at home during the day most days. My aunt has a simple modest ranch (perhaps the size of Gansky's) and her bill? OVER $500 for July. And her A/C is decent and relatively new.

That woman needs an attic fan and to raise the thermostat..

Most sky-scrapers in Manhattan use STEAM (as provided by the utilty) for A/C. Electric is not affordable here. Demand metering HEAVILY penalizes commerical users for the maximum amount of power drawn in any 15 minute period by adding a huge penalty charge to the monthly bill. They are montarily encouraging load-shifitng to prevent peak demand and non-use during off peak hours.

http://www.syracuseuniversitypress.syr.edu/encyclopedia/entries/con-edison.html
 
ConEd=> DC direct-current is still used and supplied by the utilty.

This is particularly well-suited to elevators and some sewing machines.

My uncle is a mink furrier in Manhattan and his shop has DC, as well as AC. I was cautioned as a teen-aged gopher / apprentice to ASK what gets plugged in where.

[Gopher? Americanism for "Errand boy" as in "Go for this, go for that.." ]

http://www.coned.com/sales/business/bus_elec.htm
 
Storing electricity

One of the biggest problems with electricity is that it cant readily be stored (on a massive scale, economically that is).

Powerlines are generally monitored every 6 seconds (1/10 of a minute) so that generating facilites can be-fine-tund to the demand.

The following link shows an ingenious load-shifting program used by the TVA. Off-peak "excess" electricity is used to power pumps that move water from a low reservoir to one on higher ground. Then, during peak demand, the water in the hig-ground reservoir is released and flows done by gravity turning turbines to gneerate electricity.

*WOW* intersting.

(Well maybe to just me and Tolivac.. LOL )



http://www.tva.gov/power/hydro.htm
 
What really stinks is that the more the price of fossil fuels go up, the more we go back to nuclear energy.

OK, I have hi-jacked this thread enough.
Over and out.
 
Toggleswitch: Know of TVA-Their "pumpted" energy storage" has been around for awhile-This is the neat thing about large "syncronous machines" it can be used as a motor or a generator.I don't want to be a stinker-but I BELEIVE in "Nuke" power-it is becoming MORE essential as time goes on-we HAVE LOTS of ore to run these plants-and yes--we should reconsider the "breeder reactor"These can recharge the fuel from the conventional fission plants and be generating electricity at the same time!!The French have been doing it and guess who supplied their breeder reactors and equipment---GE. Back to TVA-they also run nuclear plants and fossil fuel plants-they even build the generating plants near their fuel sources-its better to "ship" the electricity than the fuel!I can remember living in the DC metro area in the 70's and 80'--VEPCO was buildiung a new nuclear plant and people were protesting--than the "protests" disappeared after VEPCO customers electric bills went DOWN!!I stongly feel "nuke" power has its place-and with the proper safeguards--is actually SAFER than conventional fuels.The "mistakes" that happened in the operation of TMI and Cherynobel occurred from HUMAN errors rather than the equipment.
 
The Cost Continues...

In Texas back in the 80's they built this thing called the South Texas Nuclear Generating Plant, which was susposed to "save us money" and almost everyone didn't want it. Well, after years of problems building the damn thing with all its start up problems they finally got it working. Did our bills go down as promised?
Heck no, Reliant Energy (Houstons Electric Company) then told us that we would have to pay a "surcharge" becuase in 2030 or somewhere thereabouts the fuel will have to be changed and they need to save money for the replacement fuel and the disposal of the current fuel starting now. What have we seen in savings?
Nada.....
 
aka STP

LOL, my brother-in-law has worked there for years, in various capacities, including as a reactor operator. I don't know what is his title/job currently.
 
well if we MUST do nuclear, IMHO the French have the right idea.

At least use the same exact model everywhere so that engineers can walk in to any reactor and know exactly what valve and what switch does what. No guessing. Less room for human errors.
 
But a better option might be economize.

The biggest thing that pisses me off is when you get on a commuter train (electric) and the heat is on at your feet and the overhead A/C is also on. New ones IMHO shoulld be wired with a double-throw switch with three positions HEAT-OFF-COOL. Physically impossible to do both simultaneously.

Ever walk into a Burger King or Micky-D's-- pay attention to the double-doored air-lock vesitbule. Many times both the A/C and the heaters are on there too.

In my own office the A/C is on and the laides have their electric heaters going. AND ARE IN HALTERS WITH ABDOMEN EXPOSED and are in sandals. Think sweater and shoes.

*SIGH*

Can't say squat though.
 
Public transit vehicles-I always hate it when I board a Metro Bus in Wash DC area in the summer-early in the morning-warm and humid outside-and the driver has the HEAT on-what is that??shouldn't we run the AC?I opened my window.
On the nukes-the equipment in question is automatic-but can be defeated by the operator-Automatic cooling systems in case of reactor overload or overheating-these were disabled by the operators in both incidents-In fact it was said the operators at Cherynobel were "experimenting" with the reactor when the fault happened.In b oth cases-for safety-the reactors should have beened "scrammed" shutdown.also the Russian reactors don't have the containment building that is required on USA reactors under safety codes.Its to protect from objects getting into the reactor room-and in case of reactor faults-to contain the radiation.The containment building is locked up to keep people out-the operators don't go in it while the plant is operating.
 

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