Energy Procurement Blog

Industry experts at the LDC Gas Forum Southeast in Atlanta stated that most increases in gas demand are not expected to occur for several years. With the mild winter and heavy production, there is no immediate way to help improve gas consumption.

What’s on the horizon that can and will affect our energy resources? Once again, we must turn our attention to China. Let’s face it – one fifth of the world’s population lives in China! Since it has become industrialized it is consuming more energy than ever before! Consider the following facts:

• By 2025, China will build TEN New York-sized cities!
• By 2030, China will add more new city-dwellers than the entire U.S. population.
  
• China already consumes twice as much steel as the U.S., Europe and Japan combined.
  
• China has more than 50 million vehicles on the road...

*Notice - As of 12/30/11, the U.S. Court of Appeals has delayed implementation of the CSAPR.

Effective January 2012, the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) will require 27 states, mostly in the eastern half of the United States, to significantly reduce emissions from coal fired plants. The purpose of this rule is to help states reduce ground level ozone and other pollutants, replacing the EPA's 2005 Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). The first restrictions go into effect on January 1, 2012, with another wave of restrictions kicking in on May 1, 2012.

The question we ask is, "How will CSAPR affect energy prices"? Well, regions with heavy coal based generation could see their power prices increase...

I just read an article on Pennlive.com called "The Darker Side of Energy Deregulation", in which the author brings out a very valid point regarding the transparency in disclosing the true costs services.

The author, who I assume to be a Pennsylvania resident, tells the story about his own experience of opening his electric bill, only to discover that his "discount carrier" had charged him more than twice the going rate for the month of June 2011...

I just read a good article today in the July/August 2011 edition of EnergyBiz, headlined "Fast and Slow but Forward", regarding the direction of electricity deregulation.  The article addresses the good, the bad and the ugly issues that have faced deregulated markets over the past 10 years.  In short, there are no new deregulatory efforts going on at the present time. This is, in part, due to the bad press regarding retail energy prices increasing...

The last time we saw the stock market take a dive like we saw on Monday, August 8th was in October of 2008. Sometimes referred to as the Crash of 2008, it set a record weekly loss of 1,874 points or 18.1% during the week of October 6th.

So we began thinking - how would a downturn in August affect the price of natural gas? Looking back at the crashes of 1929, 1987 and 2008, they share one common element...

Energy is a complex purchase.  It's not like buying copy paper.  This blog is about the top three mistakes we see companies make when purchasing energy such as natural gas and electricity.

The question has been raised many times lately about how the economy especially the latest news about raising the debt ceiling can have on energy prices. This blog will attempt to answer that question as it relates to natural gas and electricity pricing.

Since natural gas prices affect the price of electricity let’s start there. The largest pricing component of natural gas is set by market forces which is the buying and selling of the commodity by market players, based on supply and demand...

The energy market is a fast paced, ever changing medium. As an example, just look at the volatility in the natural gas market over the past few years!

The red line shows the ebb and flows of the ever changing NYMEX Natural Gas futures, while the blue line shows the changes in the S&P 500...