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Consumers Paying More As Nat Gas Cash Prices Spike
Submitted by Joao Peixe via OilPrice.com,
As natural gas prices climb, reaching over $5/mcf again on 4 February, and with an unseasonably cold winter, local utilities say that natural gas customers’ bills are 30-40% higher now than last winter.
Last week, we saw natural gas prices rise above $5 for the first time in three years, then falling back a bit only to rise again on 4 February, with March futures trading above $5.25/mcf—or more than 6%, according to expert trader Dan Dicker.
Customers are footing the bill for higher gas prices and the coldest November-January period in four years in the Midwest and Northeast.
In Omaha, Nebraska, weather has been about 30% colder this year than last, and utility regulatory officials saying that gas use among customers is up while bills are up by 34-38% over last year.
Utilities are paying high prices for gas because demand has been higher and consumption rates at a level that has reduced storage by about 17% over the average of the previous five years.
In the meantime, there is a great deal of disconnect between cash prices and futures prices for natural gas, with futures trading an increasingly volatile business. While 6 February saw a spike in next-day prices, according to Reuters, 5 February saw natural gas futures fall sharply due to longer-term mild weather forecasts.
“The futures market appears to be disconnected from key developments occurring in the physical market,” Reuters quoted BNP Paribas analyst Teri Viswanath as saying on 6 February. “Today we witnessed a marked increase in spot prices for every consuming region, suggesting that utilities might be rationing limited inventories by purchasing gas off the market.”
As Dicker noted for The Street, “Low stockpiles caused by sequestration and a rush of domestic exploration and production companies away from natural gas production in favor of shale oil is taking its toll and providing the first real and consistent support of prices since 2007. Suddenly, natural gas markets are vulnerable to price spikes and traders are afraid to be short.”
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But NPR said my bill wouldn't be affected?
NPR is brain dead.
My gas prices have been flat for like 2 years. Just started seeing price spikes. I felt like they were giving it away before.
pods
I switched to C3H8 many years ago [for stove cooking] & have it stored in 100 lb, 200 lb, & 40 lb tanks off site... Don't need natty to heat the house [& instead use wood pellets ~ which ~ work in certain instances based on your configuration]
The problem with most people is that they're, in a way of saying, 'ALL OR NOTHING'... Usually ~ it's inefficient to be that way... You have to identify your various energy needs, seasonality, & other things, & diversify...
~~~
PODS ~ You're in FLA right?... If so, is that 'Constellation'?
My brother swears by his wood pellet stove. He was burning wood in his wood stove the last couple years but finally used it all up from the trees he had removed from his back yard. So he converted over to wood pellets and loves 'em.
I ask him how much he saves vs. not using it and then he starts using a lot of 4 letter words to describe the bills when he's out of town a couple weeks and his wife runs the heater full time.
pelletized wood pulp is an emerging market down here where i live, finally something to help out depressed bulk fiber prices. it'll help create some needed jerbs.
Not my problem not my fault and I don't care. In fact since I own some natural gas stocks I'm enjoying the increased diviends and capital gains.
I don't care if the muppets freeze to death in the dark and civilization ends as long as I get my cut.
Follow success in Copper ore extraction, Boris is explore Natural Gas. Preliminary research is show large natural gas deposit nearby, and is coincidence, in close proximity of Kaliningrad pipeline. Boris is only need acquisition of harden metal bit and industrial drill.
LOL
Little further up 95 in NC.
Put in a supplementary propane stove after the ice storm of '02. I like the warmth of the fireplace. Heat pump just isn't warming in the winter.
Wood stove would be my favorite, but won't suit me at the moment.
pods
@pods
Yeah, I hear ya...
That's basically the way it goes... It's almost useless trying to discuss the subject on an open forum because the BEST solution [for the individual], is ultimately dependent on:
- their individual 'SPACE' configurations
- the price & availability of various fuels in their local market
- their STORAGE [including 'safety'] needs of such fuels
- etc.
One can only really experiment [for themselves] what works for them...
This oughta be good for the coal mining companies too. Many in the dump now the get rid if coal mantra wont work atelast this winter.
OT: Blythe Masters
The master is not too worried about anything...
blithe adjectiveIt's almost as if the name is made-up.
Read Gold Wars: Battle for the Global Economy from Clarity Press.
Unfortunately ~ the 'free shit' army can't keep their keisters warm [unless they sit on their Obamafones]...
Look on the bright side... Go *LONG* 55 gallon steel drums & 2x4 scraps pulled off rotting building frames...
We are NOT paying more...the Fed said so.
That global warming thing is working out well. Not.
Bear do not need natural gas. Bear has natural energy, hibernation and ZP energy generator.
Now they can ditch the death panel idea .... Granny gonna be icicled in 62 degrees.
Where all that Marcellus Shale gas?
Still under my parents property. NY will okay drilling about a year after everything collapses and we are all in assless chaps and power our "barter" towns on pig shit.
My thoughts on large scale drilling in the US is that they do not want to allow that otherwise all this funny $$ being printed stays here and we all wear bread helmets along with our assless chaps when the inflation roars along.
OT: I seem to have a fixation with assless chaps? Note to self, do not see shrink. Some things are better left unknown.
pods
NY will never allow fracking, there's too many neoluddite chicken littles up there. kinda like ZH, now that i think about it.
Shitting in your own crib is fine when it is 20 country yokels in the middle of nowhere, doing it in the watershed for 20 million people is another story....
-1
"Neoluddite chicken little" NIMBY.
It's OK. Embrace your inner Wez.
Not to worry. Once consumers bills go up, FERC/DC steps in and crushes the evil speculators.
financial markets are the trojan horse
that never stops kicking you in the balls.
We'll seasonally adjust that noise out of the equation...
NO INFLATION FOR YOU!
There's no inflation for me with natural gas this year, to be honest. I locked in at .486 for a year.
But just a nickel increase next year and my natural gas prices will have risen by 10%. I am expecting it to be much more than that, however.
There's no inflation, no. I'm paying more to heat my house, more to fill my car, and more at the grocery store. Oh and have you priced a new car lately? And don't forget all the inflation that has found its way into the stock markets. But other than that everything is great. I am so sick of being lied to everyday. I wish the collapse would just hurry up and happen so we can flush all the crap. 2008 should have done it but the criminals running the world couldn't leave things alone, they had to jump in and be the saviors. Well just because you saved a turd from being flushed down the toilet that does not make you Jesus Christ.
I thought America was awash in Nat Gas. Time to gouge the consumer, again.
Da MSM told you that..so you know it true in real...
yeah it was $13 per mcf not 4 years ago.
And my father in law set the house at 55° because any more than that would have run him $350+ to heat his home a month.
As I have pointed out for almost 4 years here...
The US is still a net importer of natural gas....
... artful use of non-disclosure; why don't you specify from which countries we import?
Distrigas in Boston imports natural gas, much from Atlantic LNG. They source a lot from Trinidad & Yemen. The U.S. does not export natural gas to any country but Mexico, and won't until late 2015 at the earliest.
Flux said we are 'net importers'; my question still is: from whom?
Why don't you look it up...
Google EIA US Natural Gas imports by country
30% colder in Omaha is proof even mother nature doesn't like Buffett.
Finally, someone finally spells his name correctly...(snark)
Used 2750 gallons of propane in my wind machines to keep my orange groves from freezing last month in Calif. Only had to pay $2.33 per gallon. Guess I got lucky or the vendors know not to gouge the customer. That way the vendor keeps the customer year after year.
Guess you did get lucky propane's over $5.00 a gallon in Wisconsin
How much is propane price higher? From last year or recent low?
The highest I ever, ever paid (WI) when we had propane was $2.29 so we got rid of it that was 2 years ago. But it really depends on your specific location for how much it has increased. My little brother lives in N. Dakota and prices there have tripled in the last few months.
This NG action this week showws what happens when the beach ball gets held under water for too long.
The first manipulated commodity to break free?
Burn gaz bitchez.
Stack On
i wouldn't start celebrating yet, it's under $5 and we're headed into the shoulder season. add to that when you start getting above $4.50 lots and lots of shut in production starts getting opened up. once the weather warms we'll see, i guess. hope for a hot summer. /shrug
Right on. The forward curves haven't moved at all (Cal '15, '16+) as producers with shut-in production sell into any future strength.
Wow, I feel so lucky. Here in Colorado we have Xcel Energy as the only real provider of gas/electric. I love that I am using less energy compared to last year. Last year January bill was $230 compared to $386 this January. I though it was only natural for the price increase, especially with no other options for energy.
Higher energy usage for the consumer because more people are sitting at home now, out of work enjoying thier new found freedom. Thank you Obamacare.
As bad as Obamacare is, it has nothing to do with the fucking price of natural gas or the increased demand. You Republicans are like a goddamn broken record. If you don't like Obamacare, tell your reps to write a bill for single-payer.
Single-payer, what a douche.
So you are ok with the health insurance industry taking a vig equal to 5% of GDP then? About the same as Wall street...
I mean if they were providing superior outcomes, then ok, maybe, but they ain't....
Go long chainsaws...
Shorting NatGas is the easiest play around right now. It is hugely overbought and once the weather moderates, prices will collapse. If you want to make money right now buy some NatGas ETF puts, some DGAZ and, welll......BTFD on everything else.
"...natural gas customers’ bills are 30-40% higher now than last winter."
Impossible. We're gonna be the next Saudi Arabia ! We're Exporting energy....
Fracking will flood the market it will be too cheap to meter....
/sarc
no need for the /sarc... it was plenty clear...
They placed their bets. The cloud seeding orders went out after the weather model was built. The maximum period of chemtrailing was on or about the date the California Governor announced the California Drought. A complete success for the insiders and a great big fuck-y'all to the outsiders and the consuming public.
" The cloud seeding orders went out after the weather model was built. "
Who provides 'the clouds'? A little tough to seed dry, clear air ...
Is it normal for natural gas suppliers in the US to change the price they charge without actually telling anyone until the bill arrives? Seems like price should be upfront if it's going to do its job in reducing demand.
My utility publishes their rate at the beginning of each month (after bid week and IFERC) and many states have deregulated natural gas markets. You can buy from one of those and lock in your price.
I'm sure the Commodities Futures Modernization Act, along with the speculators like Goldman and JPM, have nothing to do with the 40% price increase.
+++ for remembering CFMA 2000
Kicking Back In Amsterdam - Kevin Welch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQjnTlWiKbU
Gas prices are likely too low. If you look back over the past when gas prices spiked to their highs it was essentially when most people were converting over as a result of Oil being too high. I am certainly in favor of a free market but this always seems to happen when demand goes up which is a natural consequence of such action. However I am not in favor of artificially jacked prices so that companies can max their profits on the back of consumers once they have them by the short curly's for switching over or for governments to collect more "hidden tax" revenues which only a moron couldn't see through.
No question you are dammed if you do and dammed if you don't when it comes to choosing between oil and gas but there is a real assault going on here against our freedoms and it pisses me off. That is unless you own an oil or gas company?
That is only 30% - 40% on the gas itself. They itemize the bill between delivery and cost of gas and those are broken down even further. That 30% - 40% isn't applied to the total bill unlike home heating oil.
Relocated from N. Nevada to S. Thailand in November 2012.
In NV, during some periods of the the winter, the temperature would not go above 18F. We would have to leave the furnace on all the time for the critters and plants. We would end up pay $2000+ / year for propane.
Here in S. Thailand, the temperature never goes below 70F. Home heating cost savings = $2000+ / year (not figuring in the ~30% price spike in Jan 2014).
Do you think inflation will "remain stable" forever, and the corporations will "hold their prices" and thus reduce their profitability? Fat chance.
It's going to get much pricier to stay in the west boys. I recommend you get out and position yourself carefully (no debt) so you can "make it to the finish line" in comfort.
Gas prices are artificially low right now because producers want to remove export restrictions.
The truth is far more sinister, from the horses mouth http://blogs.wsj.com/corporate-intelligence/2014/02/03/regulators-ask-ex...
Exxon’s answer to the SEC boils down to this: Yes, low gas prices hurt in 2012, but the pain was fleeting and the future looks a lot better.
To put a value on wells that pump oil and gas for decades, Exxon argued in its response to the SEC, it has to factor in things that haven’t happened yet. For instance, Exxon pointed out that the U.S. is poised to export a significant amount of natural gas overseas, which could boost prices for the fuel.
Forget that "hundreds of years of gas" bullshit, they can sell a hundred years of gas in 10 years.
High energy prices = less consumption because everything including the fuel in your tank costs more = layoffs = less tax revenue = government cutbacks, layoffs and debt increases = less consumption = more layoffs = less taxes ===== economic death spiral.
Compounding the problem is the fact that a weak labour market means real wages drop - as they are across the world right now - that means everything is more expensive and your buying power is dropping at the same time.
Governments recognize this and are trying to offset with debt, easy lending (they are purposely inflating bubbles), lower interest rates and money printing.
Of course they will fail - because the disease is expensive oil. And there is no substitute
The economic death spiral will accelerate when the QE and ZIRP no longer have any effect and the confidence game collapses.
This moment will be known as the end of the industrial revolution by the few who survive.
A two pack of 1.1 pound propane cylinders at WalMart just jumped from $5.37 to $6.57.
That's a 20%+ increase overnight.
If most people were unaware of subtleties in the US oil market, it is very clear that they are completely oblivious of the propane market....
While there were shortages in the midwest, we exported ~400,000 barrels a day (which was counted as "oil" production) because there is no infrastructure to move the propane around...