I was able to get locked in for two years a few months back for something like $0.5300/CCF and as I’m paying my bill I see the default rate from UGI (my supplier) is WAY higher than that AND I get an email that they are raising rates another 9.5%


Energy costs are going crazy and I’m also glad to NOT be on heating oil anymore either.


Anyone else out there able to shop around and choose an alternate supplier? We can do that with both gas and electric here in PA and I’m really glad we have that.

Did the same thing in June for propane. 1.69/gallon for 2 years. Even that was up 35¢/gallon from my last contract.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
Did the same thing in June for propane. 1.69/gallon for 2 years. Even that was up 35¢/gallon from my last contract.

Where are you getting propane delivered for $1.69? I have family in NH and they just paid $730 for 250 gallons of propane for this month's delivery. That's with an "employee discount" for all the times the propane company screwed up during the install and servicing the unit afterwards. Propane prices in NH are well north of $3.50 a gallon according to this:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/P...I_WFR_DCUS_SNH_W.htm

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
Did the same thing in June for propane. 1.69/gallon for 2 years. Even that was up 35¢/gallon from my last contract.

Where are you getting propane delivered for $1.69? I have family in NH and they just paid $730 for 250 gallons of propane for this month's delivery. That's with an "employee discount" for all the times the propane company screwed up during the install and servicing the unit afterwards. Propane prices in NH are well north of $3.50 a gallon according to this:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/P...I_WFR_DCUS_SNH_W.htm

Not at liberty to say.

Just got my gas bill, which was $50 higher than last month, and $30 higher than the same month last year.

I have a gas furnace, a gas water heater, and a gas fireplace. (I've cut way back on using the gas fireplace this winter, once I realized gas prices were skyrocketing).

No contracts here... You pay whatever they charge you, based on your usage according to the meter, just like water and electrical. And I don't have the option to shop around for gas/electric/water. There's one natural gas, one water, and one electrical supplier for my house.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
Propane prices in NH are well north of $3.50 a gallon according to this:

$3.26 here now.

U.S. Natural Gas Abruptly Surges in Record Short Squeeze

(Bloomberg) -- U.S. natural gas futures suddenly spiked the most on record Thursday afternoon, a dramatic move that signaled bearish wagers being squeezed out of the market.

The eye-popping surge of as much as 72% came ahead of the expiration of the February contract, which was thinly traded, as weather forecasts turned colder. A spokesperson for CME Group confirmed the price jump, the most since the contract launched in 1990. The more-active March contract saw a gain of less than 10%.

Gas prices have been volatile in recent weeks as traders try to gauge whether winter cold will strain stockpiles of the power-plant and heating fuel. The chillier shift in the weather outlook near the futures expiration contributed to the sharp increase in prices, traders said. In a short squeeze, traders exposed to wrong-way bets on lower prices rush to close out those positions by purchasing higher-priced contracts.

“The way the price whipsawed is a sign of a very classic commodity short squeeze,” said Campbell Faulkner, the chief data officer at OTC Global Holdings LP. “Frankly, there is no other good explanation. Even if we had a bomb cyclone going on, we wouldn’t see prices move this much.”

Though hedge funds have been net-long on U.S. gas contracts, indicating they expect prices to rise, money managers still held substantial short positions, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Changes to one weather model indicate that frigid conditions in the eastern and central U.S. could persist into the middle of February, said Matt Rogers, president of Commodity Weather Group.

“This is absolutely insane,” said Gary Cunningham, a director at Tradition Energy. “This is what happens when you end up short at expiration. I don’t know who leaves it until an hour before expiration to cover their shorts.”

Although U.S. gas inventories are only 1% below normal for the time of year, exports have been near a record and production from shale basins has been relatively restrained.

The futures were trading below $4.50 per million British thermal units for most of the session until around 12:45 p.m. in New York, when an upward surge kicked in that pushed prices above $7. The February contract settled at $6.265, the highest close since October.

The frenzy rippled through to later-month contracts, though less dramatically: The much more widely traded March futures were up 1.8% to $4.359 at 11:11 a.m. Singapore time on Friday, after climbing as much as 9.5% on Thursday.

The gas-futures market has grown increasingly vulnerable to an event such as Thursday’s in the last three months, as surging volatility prompted some investors to withdraw, reducing overall liquidity, said OTC’s Faulkner, who formerly worked in risk-management and analysis at Royal Dutch Shell Plc and JPMorgan Chase & Co.

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees natural gas futures trading, will likely look into any signs of market manipulation, said Matthew Hunter, a former power trader who spent 17 years at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and the CFTC hunting for irregularities before retiring last year.

The CFTC declined to comment about Thursday’s activity.

In 2014, a trader agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a CFTC lawsuit claiming he tried to rig gas contract prices by allegedly dumping a large number of futures contracts within the last 30 minutes of trading in a bid to drive down the closing price.

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:

quote:

Originally posted by Blackmore:
Did the same thing in June for propane. 1.69/gallon for 2 years. Even that was up 35¢/gallon from my last contract.

Where are you getting propane delivered for $1.69? I have family in NH and they just paid $730 for 250 gallons of propane for this month's delivery. That's with an "employee discount" for all the times the propane company screwed up during the install and servicing the unit afterwards. Propane prices in NH are well north of $3.50 a gallon according to this:

https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/P...I_WFR_DCUS_SNH_W.htm

Not at liberty to say.

I locked in propane for this heating season back in July at $2.41 gallon. (1100 gallons)

The 2020 price on the same program last season was $2.07 gallon.

Propane prices in NH right now are at $3.56 gallon.

America has an enormous natural gas reserve, one of if not the largest in the world and has enough oil where it's more profitable to sell it to other countries and continue buying it cheaper from the Middle East.

There is absolutely no good reason why Americans should be getting hit with pricing spikes like this. Heating a home is right up there with essentials like food and water.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
America has an enormous natural gas reserve, one of if not the largest in the world and has enough oil where it's more profitable to sell it to other countries and continue buying it cheaper from the Middle East.

There is absolutely no good reason why Americans should be getting hit with pricing spikes like this. Heating a home is right up there with essentials like food and water.

The reason it is going up is because of Biden's policy actions. Gas prices will really be going up next month, when the Russian tanks start rolling across the frozen ground in Ukraine. Russian natural gas heats most of Europe. The Euros will be buying ship loads of gas from the US. The people of Massachusetts and New York will be paying extra for Russian gas, since there is no pipeline going into New York and the Jones Act prevents US natural gas from being shipped to New York and beyond from other US ports, since all LNG tankers are of foreign registry.
https://www.instituteforenergy...-lng-russia-instead/


And don't worry, food prices will be going up soon, too. The price of fertilizer has already doubled, since nitrogen is made from natural gas.

The CEO of Chevron was on TV saying that Chevron was not going to produce more oil and gas, since the Biden administration was antagonistic to US oil and gas production. Instead, they would use their extra cash to pay increased dividends and buy back shares.

https://www.cnbc.com/video/202...chterm=chevron%20ceo

quote:

Originally posted by Hay2bale:

The reason it is going up is because of Biden's policy actions.

I hear you loud and clear. I can't believe how much the politicians have screwed up in so little time.

I'm not one for big Government getting involved with free markets however with essentials (food, gas, residential energy, etc.) there should be caps based on the historical price for these types of things. If the costs exceed the cap then it's the responsibility of these companies and the Government to agree upon measures to keep the price under the cap because this burden shouldn't fall on the shoulders of average Americans who can't control any of this.


Unfortunately politicians would find a way to abuse any such program and screw up things even more. I'm sure of it.

Well I for one have noticed my monthly royalty checks have been the highest in 10 years.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:

quote:

Originally posted by Hay2bale:

The reason it is going up is because of Biden's policy actions.

I hear you loud and clear. I can't believe how much the politicians have screwed up in so little time.

The prices go up every winter and down every summer. Been that way forever, regardless of who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

quote:

The prices go up every winter and down every summer. Been that way forever, regardless of who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

^^^^^^^^
Very true! The skill is in locking in prices outside of the usual ups and downs. The airlines frequently get into the futures market and either end up doing very well or very poorly. Southwest airlines {LUV} has been very successful with the futures market.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:

The prices go up every winter and down every summer. Been that way forever, regardless of who lives at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

You cannot be serious

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, what’s going on this past year is NOTHING like seasonal fluctuations.


For fucks sake, get a clue

My gas bill for December, which was mild with no snow and no extreme cold was $200. November which was abnormally mild was $150.

If it gets cold here, like significantly below freezing I'm going to see $300 easy.

And this is Indianapolis, not Minnesota.

Dang!

I guess I shouldn't bitch too much about my $125 bill. It's usually closer to $70-$90.

Well I don't have gas available, nor do anyone nearby. Nor is there any gas to the town of Bruceton Mills and quite a ways beyond, yet there are wells and pipelines all around. Almost all the gas goes to pipelines going to either power plants or the coast to be exported.
Meanwhile I heat with electric.

If it gets much worse I'm going to have to get party packs of Taco Bell bean burritos and go full renewable gas...