electricity prices

21Sep

Picking the Wrong Bridge

Dispatchable fuel diversity has long provided a shield to electricity consumers from fuel price spikes. But that optionality is eroding in much of the U.S. – or is already gone – as the coal fleet is pushed off the grid. Years of warnings about the potential pain to consumers should natural gas prices spike, and […]
14Sep

The Next Grid Crisis is in New England

New England recognizes it has a dangerous fuel security problem on its hands. And a telling factor in that crisis is what it doesn’t have: fuel diversity in the form of coal capacity. New England’s overreliance on natural gas, constrained gas delivery system, and inability to site and build alternatives is barreling towards a completely […]
31Aug

The U.S. Coal Solution for Europe

The European energy crisis continues to deepen, and European leaders are now scrambling to break the link between the cost of natural gas and the price of electricity. Natural gas prices are 12 times higher than at the start of 2021 and power prices have exploded in tandem. The cost to consumers is enormous and […]
24Aug

Europe’s Energy Crisis Underscores the Need for Fuel Diversity

The energy crisis in Europe keeps getting worse. Months of warnings are now becoming grim reality. European power prices are now equivalent to more than $1,000 per barrel of oil. The price of natural gas is 13 times its normal seasonal price. As winter draws nearer, so does the pain of crushing energy costs. Britain […]
27Jul

Surging Natural Gas Prices Underscore the Need for Fuel Diversity

Consumers are finally getting some relief at the gas pump but the prices for natural gas and electricity are now soaring. As the economy treads water, fighting off recession, a new variant of energy-driven inflation is knocking at the door. With the U.S. now the world’s largest LNG exporter, and the U.S. gas market increasingly […]
22Jun

Voters Want Action on Grid Reliability

Americans are deeply concerned about the reliability of the nation’s power grid and the affordability of their electricity supply. They’re so concerned, even frustrated, with warnings over the potential for rolling blackouts – or worse – they now want government action to fix the problem. According to national polling from Morning Consult, nearly 8 in […]
01Jun

Facing Grid Unreliability Reality

Summer heat has arrived and for too many families there’s deep concern over whether they can afford to stay cool or whether the grid is going to hold up when they need it most. With natural gas prices nearly three times what they were last year, electricity prices soaring and startling warnings about eroding grid […]
25May

Soaring Energy Prices are Swallowing Economic Recovery

Contrasting the painful immediacy of an oil price shock to that from electricity prices, Bloomberg columnist Javier Blas wrote, “akin to a rising tide, it is slow but relentless and then, surprise, you are overwhelmed.” Blas penned that description about the crushing electricity costs about to overwhelm Europe, but the metaphor neatly describes the electricity crisis […]
18May

As Natural Gas Prices Soar, a Plea for Energy Pragmatism

In the wake of stunning blackouts in California in August of 2020, California Assemblyman Jim Patterson said, “today we have a grid that is increasingly expensive, unreliable and unavailable when the people of California need it the most.” What Mr. Patterson didn’t know at the time is that his remark would soon describe nearly the […]
04May

The End of Flat Power Demand: Electrification, Big Data and Crypto

A new energy era is here. The shale gas glut and years of flat power demand have come to an abrupt end. Those two constants of the past decade have been replaced by soaring gas prices and the return of rising power demand driven by the data revolution and electrification. Natural gas prices are four […]