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Archive for October, 2011

Meeting Winter Natural Gas Demand In Northeast Markets

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Forward prices are typically a good indicator of the market’s perception of where a particular commodity will be trading based on certain fundamental and technical factors.  The northeast markets, such as Boston and New York City, have limited pipeline capacity for natural gas to flow into these markets. 

When winter demand for natural gas reaches a point where there isn’t enough capacity on the pipelines to move the needed commodity to market, pipelines will reach max capacity and experience constraints.  When this occurs, demand must be met by additional sources for supply.

One alternative is to use Liquid…
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Update on Bill That Could Result in Electric Rate Increase in IL

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Yesterday, a Senate Committee narrowly approved the latest incarnation of the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) proposal, which was changed from SB 1653 to SB 678. The new bill, SB 678, is before the full Senate for consideration, potentially as soon as this afternoon or this evening. 

As noted in yesterday’s blog post, the TEC proposal would require Illinois businesses, families, and government agencies to subsidize a power plant by paying almost $9 billion over a 30-year period.  The proponents of the measure admitted yesterday that the legislation that will result in annual rate increases of at least $286 million…
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Attention, IL Businesses: SB 1653 Could Result in Significant Electric Rate Increase

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As the Illinois General Assembly returns this week for the Fall Veto Session there is one issue that is likely to be addressed, and if adopted will result in a significant electric rate increase. 

The issue I’m talking about is the Taylorville Energy Center (TEC) proposal, which would require Illinois businesses, families, and government agencies to subsidize a power plant by paying almost $9 billion over a 30-year period.  While the General Assembly has twice rejected earlier iterations of this plan, the proponent of the subsidy proposal, Tenaska Energy, wants the General Assembly to enact SB 1653 – legislation…
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EIA Short Term Energy Outlook – October 2011

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Last week, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released its Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), which included a view on fuels this winter.  Overall, the EIA expects higher average fuel bills for this winter heating season for heating oil, propane and natural gas, but little change in electricity bills.  Those who heat their home with oil should expect their bills to be higher than they have in any previous winter, especially in the Northeast where 80% of households rely on heating oil.  The EIA projects residential heating oil prices will average $3.71/gallon during this winter season, 10% higher than last winter…
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Robust Natural Gas Injections Provide Seasonal Buying Opportunity

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On October 13, EIA reported that inventories of gas in underground storage for the week ending October 7increased 112 Bcf to 3,521 Bcf.  This injection of 112 Bcf was the largest on record for a week in October and the largest weekly injection since June 2009.   This current injection is the third week in a row where injections have surpassed year ago levels. 

As a result, the storage deficit to last year has narrowed and currently storage is 68 Bcf above the five year average. The robust pace of injections has been putting downward pressure on gas prices and has…
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How Customers with a Blended Electricity Solution Can Create a Reliable Budget

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Since I last posted about the different approaches that some customers with a blended electricity solution may take to create a reliable budget, one of my colleagues came to me with an interesting story. From time to time, customers with blended electricity solutions would come to him with questions about why a certain bill was higher or lower than expected.

One customer, a large property management firm with more than 100 commercial condo buildings, no longer has that question since they began using our i2i platform. i2i, which includes a suite of services and reports, gave this…
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