Heating oil is facing an image issue in New York City. Pressure continues to mount against fossil fuels from many angles including environmental groups, policymakers, and competing energy sources that are either cheaper, cleaner, now or potentially both cleaner and cheaper in the future. With the Climate Mobilization Act serving as the primary platform for the city’s campaign against carbon emissions, many are wondering, “is the writing on the wall for heating oil in New York?”

Twice per year, in March and then in September, the four major Transmission Distribution Utilities (TDUs) in Texas file with the Public Utility Commission of Texas (PUCT) to update their tariffs to account for the ever-changing costs of transmission. This semi-annual TDU cost true-up was typically not one of the larger charges that Retail Electric Providers (REPs) passed through to customers but lately that has changed. As the PUCT directs changes to the rate design, this tariff charge has increased substantially, ultimately impacting the monthly invoice for end users.

Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is produced through a process that super-cools pure methane gas to approximately -260ºF, which enables it to be stored in liquid form at normal atmospheric pressures and conveniently shipped overseas. Now that’s super cool in our book.

Doesn’t the first cold front of fall always just feel so glorious? Texans will tell you that 85 degrees Fahrenheit never felt so good. After over four months of sweltering heat in Texas, with triple-digit heat index values as the rule rather than the exception, on Tuesday, September 21, 2021, a small shot of Arctic air made it all the way to the Texas Gulf Coast. Finally, Texans received some relief from the high humidity levels statewide and overnight low temperatures plunged into the 60s as far south as Brownsville. This front officially marks the end of the 4CP season, and of summertime in general, in Texas.

Con Edison electricity customers have likely noticed a significant increase in delivery costs over the last 12 months. There are two specific variable components that have caused these rates to skyrocket in 2021:

Illinois Passes Nation-Leading Climate and Equitable Jobs Act

On September 15, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker signed historic clean energy legislation, known as the Climate and Equitable Jobs Act (CEJA). Among many things, the CEJA requires Illinois to achieve a 100% carbon-free power sector by 2045, becoming the first Midwestern state to commit to ending the use of fossil fuels.

Have you ever believed the energy market myth that natural gas prices are always cheaper during the fall and spring?

In ERCOT, energy users with “flexible loads” (i.e., folks that can dial back electricity usage on short notice) have a variety of demand response programs to choose from. These programs pay end users for their participation and performance and are designed to maintain reliability on the grid in times of stress. The causes for grid stress could include if either real-time energy demand is higher than what was forecast and/or because of delivery issues on the supply-side power resulting from forced outages at power plants, transmission lines, or both. Demand response is an energy management concept that has existed for over two decades and these programs are in use nationwide and around the world.

Aluminum manufacturers are among the most energy-intensive industries in the world. In 2010, the process used by smelters to refine primary aluminum from bauxite ore consumed approximately 3% of the entire world’s electricity supply. The vast amounts of energy used in this process have driven many aluminum manufacturers to locate their plants in parts of the world where bauxite is plentiful and electricity is relatively inexpensive. Today, there is a new energy-intensive industry that is driving demand for more electricity supplies: cryptocurrencies. According to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance, Bitcoin alone, one of the most well-known cryptocurrencies, uses 110 Terawatt-hours of electricity annually, or 0.55% of global electricity supplies. The fact that cryptocurrencies can use more electricity than some small nations has motivated companies that mine Bitcoin to find host locations where electricity is reliable, plentiful, and inexpensive. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and others have used record amounts of electricity this year, raising concerns around the amount of energy these monetary systems use and the amount of carbon used to supply their facilities.

There’s nothing like ending the month with a bang, which seems to be the trend for the settlement of the NYMEX Henry Hub prompt month natural gas contracts over the last three months. For most of August, the prompt trading month (September) was slowly churning lower, see Figure 1. By the middle of the month, prices even fell below the $3.90 to $4.10 per MMBtu trading range that was established in late July.