How to shop for lower-priced natural gas

December 31, 2008 · Filed Under Oil & Natural Gas, Retail & Spot Prices · Comment 

You’ve weatherized your home or apartment but your gas bills still seem high. What else can you do? Yes you can always put on an extra sweater and pair of socks and lower your thermostat a couple degrees. However, you can also shop for lower-priced natural gas…

For information on the status of natural gas residential choice programs in your State, check the EIA’s Status of Natural Gas Residential Choice Programs by State as of December 2007. Click on the link and then click on your state for details.

You may live in a state that has “unbundled” the natural gas commodity from the distribution service. In states with unbundled prices, the sale of the natural gas commodity is deregulated, which means that you can refer to a list of suplliers in your area and find the best deal. It just takes a couple phone calls to check on competitors’ rates, and then you can lock-in to a fixed rate for a year (e.g. $11.99 per thousand cubic feet or MCF of gas).

It’s easy to do. Your local distribution company (LDC) or public utility commission representatives can help you do it. You will save money and rest assured that you are getting the best deal in your area.

In states with complete unbundling, once you choose a gas supplier, your local distribution company will continue to provide local distribution services, as well as a unified billing service for you.

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Pa. court rejects request by FirstEnergy utilities to break rate caps, increase electric rates

November 27, 2008 · Filed Under Electric Power · Comment 

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Two Pennsylvania utilities cannot raise electric rates they charge to customers and break the deregulation-era rate caps on the cost of electricity to which they agreed a decade ago, a state judge ruled earlier this month.

Commonwealth Court Judge Rochelle S. Friedman upheld a January 2007 decision by state utility regulators to deny the request by Metropolitan Edison Co. and Pennsylvania Electric Co.

The utilities had argued that they should be able to raise customers’ retail electric rates to reflect the increasing price of wholesale electricity. But Friedman wrote that the utilities chose not to sign long-term contracts that would have locked in all of their wholesale electricity costs over the life of the rate caps.

In 2006, the companies, both subsidiaries of Ohio-based FirstEnergy Corp., asked regulators to let them begin increasing electric rates, instead of waiting until 2011, when the utilities’ rate caps expire.

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