NSTAR Gas Bill

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I was just looking at my gas bill from NSTAR and I noticed that last year, we were paying $1.64 per therm in Supply Charges. This year, those charges are 24.1c per therm. That is SEVEN times less than last year. Why was gas THAT expensive one year ago in this area and how can such wild fluctuations be allowed?

Edit: To clarify: this is comparing Aug 2009 with Aug 2008 (the NSTAR bill provides that info).

Comments

Re: Well, CA put come caps on electriticy cost spikes

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Sunshine, what did CA do after ENRON, exactly? Did they "reregulate"? I thought they had imposed limits on rates (for electricity) or something like that...

Re: Well, CA put come caps on electriticy cost spikes

[sunshineyellow.livejournal.com]

The main problem in CA was that there were caps on the retail prices, but not the wholesale prices. Now there are also caps on the wholesale prices, that the CPUC and FERC issued, and they are fairly high. This generally works because the market is no longer being manipulated by the wholesalers and the utilities instead purchase long-term contracts. However, I think the spot market for wholesale power was recently re-introduced, with a very high cap, so we'll see how well that works this time.

The main point is that there have to be caps on both, neither, or on the wholesalers. Capping it only at the retail level leads to problems.

Re: Well, CA put come caps on electriticy cost spikes

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

OK, thanks for clarifying. Obviously, I know nothing about caps. I just find sevenfold price fluctuations within one year disturbing....