It turns out that the boom in natural gas from shale formations is saving American consumers billions, and significantly offsetting higher gasoline prices (for people who use a lot of natural gas, at least).
US households continue to reap huge benefits from the shale gas revolution that has lowered inflation-adjusted prices for consumers by 24% over the last nine years, according to the BLS. Based on the estimated natural gas purchased by residential consumers in 2012, American households last year saved about $17 billion in lower natural gas bills, compared to the residential gas prices that prevailed in 2008 before the shale revolution got started. Those savings will bring the cumulative total for residential gas customers to more than $50 billion in savings since 2009 (see previous estimate by the American Gas Association of $35 billion in savings for 2009, 2010 and 2011). While higher prices at the pump and increased household expenditures on gasoline get all of the media attention, falling natural gas prices continue to bring billions of dollars in savings to American households year after year.There are some big ole charts, too.
Anon Attorney has watched his utility bills for savings due to the falling price of natural gas, but has not seen them materialize. Colorado's PUC board has been captured by an unholy alliance of industry insiders and environmentalists. Utility billing has become such a crazy patchwork of transfer fees, infrastructure fees, taxes, and socialized tiered pricing that the decline in the cost of the underlying commodity makes very little difference in the monthly bill.
ReplyDelete