Never mind the price of gasoline, try natural gas

[LVSteve]

I've been seeing pieces on TV with customers going ballistic about their bills in NV this winter. I had home issues that likely affected my gas consumption so I have found it difficult to sort out what I was seeing in my bills the last couple of months.

Got my latest natural gas bill yesterday. $136 for an average of 2.0 therms/day. I wasn't surprised at the low usage as the heat has been off a lot while I've had contractors in and out of the house. Oh, and the hot water was more off than on over the past month while the hot water pipes in the house were rerouted.

What caught my eye was that I used 70% more gas last year, 3.41 therms/day. I checked that bill and found I paid $140. Say WHAAAT!!! So I paid just $4 more last year for about 70% more gas. This does not make me happy as retirement approaches.

 

[DWalt]

Wait until all those plants are built where natural gas will be steam reformed into Hydrogen to supply green energy. Gas prices will probably quadruple.

 

[jughed440]

Friendly reminder...the 'leaders' who want all use of coal to be banned in the U.S. also want natural gas use to be eliminated in the U.S. home (so that they can make kickback money selling coal and NG off to China, which has no "EPA").
Better start stacking used tires for use as a heating fuel.

 

[cmj8591]

Who do you think is paying for all those wind mills and solar panels?

 

[sceva]

After years and even decades of pushing clean cheap natural gas; the powers to be have now decided that Natural Gas is horrible, dirty, will fill your house with toxins on and on. Must legislate it away and push clean electric power, preferably from a wind mill or solar. ( but coal fired is Ok as long as you don't mention it )

 

[ameridaddy]

After years and even decades of pushing clean cheap natural gas; the powers to be have now decided that Natural Gas is horrible, dirty, will fill your house with toxins on and on. Must legislate it away and push clean electric power, preferably from a wind mill or solar. ( but coal fired is Ok as long as you don't mention it )

"A hailstorm this month has damaged thousands of solar panels at the 3,000 acre 350-MW Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Fort Bend County, Texas, "Golf ball"-sized hail fell in the area on March 15, and aerial footage captured from a helicopter offered a glimpse at the extent of the damage."
..."unexpectedly" again, as pounding hailstorms have never been seen before in Texas. [eyecross]

 

[zeke]

Our natural gas prices went up 50% the last 2 winters before this one. Fortunately we had a mild winter this year. Imo, the futures market has a lot to do with it.

 

[Rustyt1953]

I have unnatural gas.

 

[SMSgt]

I have unnatural gas.

We've noticed.

 

[Tom S.]

In SE Michigan, we have Consumer's Energy for natural gas. I am on the 'equal monthly payment program' where they estimate your next year's payments, divide by 12 and charge you the same amount each month.

In the year 2021-2022, my payments were $57. In 2022-2023, they skyrocketed to $146 - nearly 3x the rate! In 2023-2024, they dropped back to $70 - still higher than 21-22 but far better than 22-23. Consumer's claims they base their rates on what they pay for natural gas. If that is true, then apparently they are nothing more than a middle man, supplying me with gas from wherever they can find it, and I see little if any incentive for them to shop around for the lowest priced supplier.

 

[madmikeb]

"A hailstorm this month has damaged thousands of solar panels at the 3,000 acre 350-MW Fighting Jays Solar Farm in Fort Bend County, Texas, "Golf ball"-sized hail fell in the area on March 15, and aerial footage captured from a helicopter offered a glimpse at the extent of the damage."
..."unexpectedly" again, as pounding hailstorms have never been seen before in Texas. [eyecross]

Here in Maine they are stripping acres and acres of forest and putting up solar farms in a state that we're lucky if we see the sun a week out of a month. How well do solar panels work when covered with snow? Yet my light bill just keeps going up and up. Not to mention the loss of habitat for the wildlife.

 

[Narragansett]

Whenever I drive around and see single or small groups of windmills it always seems like a lot of them are not turning. I always wonder what is up with that?

As for solar panels, they have a life span. Here in RI, we rent land from farmers and land owners that have clear land for panel farms. I am of the understanding that worn out solar panels are hazardous materials. I know our state resource recovery place charges near 1400/ton to take them.

There was an article within the last year online relating to the huge problem that California now has with panel waste and what to do with it.

We need more hydro-electric generating.

 

[s&wchad]

In SE Michigan, we have Consumer's Energy for natural gas.

We're lucky to have natural gas. You wouldn't believe the propane charges at a friends house in Lapeer and at deer camp!

My gas bill is pretty straightforward, but my electric bill (DTE) breakdown is just goofy!

 

[Tom S.]

We're lucky to have natural gas. You wouldn't believe the propane charges at a friends house in Lapeer and at deer camp!

My gas bill is pretty straightforward, but my electric bill (DTE) breakdown is just goofy!

Just because I'm lucky doesn't mean I forfeit my right to complain!

 

[TXBryan]

Whenever I drive around and see single or small groups of windmills it always seems like a lot of them are not turning. I always wonder what is up with that?

The county in which I reside has over 200, relatively newer, wind turbines and even though they helped build our new high school they are unsightly things. And they wouldn't bother me quite so much if I wasn't subsidizing them.

With respect to when they turn, and when they don't; we made inquiries to the local project supervisors about this very thing. They informed that the market for electricity fluctuates by the hour and when we see idle turbines it likely indicates electricity isn't worth enough at that moment to sustain the cost of turbine power production, wear-and-tear, and overall profitability. Thus it's "all about the money." Surprise surprise. When the market price for a kilowatt hour hits a minimum (that apparently varies based on more factors than I could adsorb) they let 'em turn. And the local managers told me they don't make the decision about when to idle or engage turbines in the project. The direction for how many turbines to run, and when, comes from much further up the chain of command and is never a local decision.

I understand the need to be profitable but that's generally not how "renewable" energy is sold to the public. Seems it is more often based on lessening our dependency on fossil fuels, climate change moderation, and virtue signaling. Without subsidies and tax breaks we would not have a single turbine in our county.

Although our projects appear well-maintained the first project, 86 1 MW turbines, are approaching 20 years old which is the generally accepted lifetime of such a machine. There is supposed to be an escrow account that will be used to dismantle obsolete turbines when their time comes (though the 80+ yards of concrete on which they are mounted is not part of any removal understanding). It will be interesting to see how it goes when it's time to use that escrow account.

 

[JohnHL]

I have unnatural gas.

I've got Classical Gas...

I got it from Mason Williams.

John

 

[cmj8591]

Here in Maine they are stripping acres and acres of forest and putting up solar farms in a state that we're lucky if we see the sun a week out of a month. How well do solar panels work when covered with snow? Yet my light bill just keeps going up and up. Not to mention the loss of habitat for the wildlife.

Not to mention that you're getting the bulk of your power from Hydro Quebec, which is about as carbon free as you can get. It illustrates how phony the argument is. Wait until they change the law and start strip mining all that lithium ore they found in the western part of the state.