kjb434 Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Maybe we can be like Saudia Arabia and Iran and import our gas. Sounds stupid, but they do not refine the oil they have. They sell it off and buy back gas.The biggest probalem in gasoline prices is the lack of refineries. We need more and more now. Hopefully some get built with the new energy bill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 We already have nuclear power here. Bay City. The safety considerations make it somewhat expensive, even though the fuel is cheaper.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>yeah, but is HOUSTON getting any power from it? that's nice for baytown, but is it feeding houston? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Bay City, not Baytown, and yes, it is owned by CenterPoint (formerly HL&P). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 correction noted. thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 But how much power to overall grid? I believe our rates are affected because Texas is isolated from the rest of the states in US that is connected by power grids. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Apparently, nuclear energy supplies 9% of Texas electricity.http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/...s/statestx.htmlInterestingly, South Texas Nuclear Project in Bay City has the number one and number two largest reactors in the country, at 1264 megawatts each.Lucky us.EDIT: Texas electric rates have increased due to deregulation and more importantly, because of the high price of natural gas, which powers a large number of our plants. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Apparently, nuclear energy supplies 9% of Texas electricity.http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/...s/statestx.htmlInterestingly, South Texas Nuclear Project in Bay City has the number one and number two largest reactors in the country, at 1264 megawatts each.Lucky us.EDIT: Texas electric rates have increased due to deregulation and more importantly, because of the high price of natural gas, which powers a large number of our plants.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>not to mention all that stadium advertising for you reliant customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 I think it's mostly due to the natural gas dependance and power grid.It has little to do with de-regulation.In Texas we still have limited deregulation. Pure deregulation would split the electricity production and electricity delivery apart. Power generation plants would serve the customers by supplying electricity. The Power generators would pay the delievery companies (wires) to get the power to the customer. Right now, power generation and delivery is handle by regional providers which is a throwback to the regulated industry.This still somewhat makes it difficult for true competition to occur. It's just like getting DSL or Cable internet service from someone besides Time Warner or SBC in Houston. SBC charges rental rates to outside DSL companies like Earthlink. Earthlink is large enough to handle this, but smaller DSL companies can't easily afford this. In California, many small DSL companies are going out of business because they can't handle the fees. The FCC under the current and prior adminstrations won't help the smaller companies either.Many smaller companies have devoted customers because of the excellent customer service. Many of these customers are small businesses also.Until we go to full blown true deregulation, electric rates can't come down. California had the worst experience in deregulation. The electric companies were planning on build several new power generation facilities after the deregulation set in, but were stopped by community activist and environmentalist. No more new power plants mean rates go up and blackouts. The rise in price in California wasn't from deregulation, but from to much regulation by other entities.Texas needs full deregulation, more connections to out of state grids, and more power plants to depend less on natural gas. Then we can only see our rates get lowered.I think TXU and Reliant are like dualopoly in this state. Other providers like Green Mountain aren't offering something cheaper. The cheaper offers from companies like Constellation New Energy are restricted to business only customers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 my apartment complex ONLY offers green mountain and i know the cost of green is more expensive than non-green companies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 I have a co-worker that uses Green Moutain. She says there a different rate plans based on how "green" you want to be. Obviously the higher price for being more green. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MidtownCoog Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Even TXU offers a "green option". We switched from Reliant to TXU last month. I got so sick and tired of that freak "Tom" from Reliant, I HAD to change. Somebody need to kick that guy square in the nutz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Didn't Reliant Energy buy Green Mountain? If that's the case, how green could you get? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 well darnit, i must be ultra green by the size of my utility bill. and i live in a SMALL one bedroom apartment. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce_oneal Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Even TXU offers a "green option".We switched from Reliant to TXU last month. I got so sick and tired of that freak "Tom" from Reliant, I HAD to change. Somebody need to kick that guy square in the nutz. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> i thought i was the only person that hated those commercials. especially the ones where he introduces himself to the group of men. and they have all the politically correct ethnic groups (based on the sounds of their names and the sounds/intonation of voices there's an african-america and a hispanic). something just weird about that commercial. and annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kjb434 Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Yeah, I'm getting really annoyed with the Reliant commercials.It's like they are assuming that Houstonians should be there customers because Reliant is from Houston. Kind of smug isn't it.I went to TXU simply because they gaurunteed a cheaper rate than Reliant. I doesn't mean my bill will be low, but it will be lower than Reliants.It doesn't matter who your Electric provider is, Centerpoint still produces power and is in charge of fixing problems. They just don't sell their power to consumers.But for some reason they do sell gas? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Subdude Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 Actually the biggest proportion of power in the Houston area is coal-generated. The plant is near Brazos Bend park. Natural gas prices have more of an impact during peak than non-peak hours. More connections between ERCOT and other service areas might improve grid reliability but have little impact on price. Most fuel commodities are traded off of liquid national markets (eg NYMEX). I get power from Entergy Solutions myself. It is amazing how many people stuck with Reliant after deregulation. Electricity from other providers works just fine, thank you, and will almost always cost less. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ssullivan Posted August 15, 2005 Share Posted August 15, 2005 I have a co-worker that uses Green Moutain. She says there a different rate plans based on how "green" you want to be. Obviously the higher price for being more green.There are two plans - pollution free (wind and water) and 100% wind. In the Houston area, pollution free is on average $0.1280/kWh and 100% wind is $0.1423/kWh. With both there is also a $5.59 monthly service charge.For comparison purposes, Reliant in Houston is charging $0.1220/kWh plus a $5.59 monthly service charge. Entergy Solutions is $0.1190/kWh with no monthly service charge. TXU is $0.1216/kWh with a $5.31 monthly service charge. Gexa Engergy offers two residential plans - the power plan, at $0.1170/kWh plus a monthly service charge of $4.39 and the pollution-free plan at $0.1220 plus a monthly $4.79 charge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted August 16, 2005 Share Posted August 16, 2005 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BayouCityGirl Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 The news hasn't reported it but the gas station on Stella Link near the freeway has hit $3.00 for Reg. and $3.19 for Prem! This all happened yesterday. btw, I figured it was in the right topic... "Going up" b/c that's what gas is (LOL!)On a serious note I think this guy is seriously doing alot of price gouging! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heights2Bastrop Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 I paid $2.45 yesterday in Bastrop. On the way back to Houston, I saw prices as high as $2.90. I saw on the news that somewhere near Denver gas was upwards of $3.80. Next week I will be in Bastrop for good. That's a good thing because the cost of shuttling back and forth is killing me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JR3985 Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 If you think they are price gouging go to www.energy.gov. There is a link to report stations that are taking advantage of the situation. If you try it let me know how it works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Thanx for the post, but it is very likely that it will get closed or moved.It was cute to try to make this work in this topic, but this really belongs in "Off topic" not here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jt16 Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Unleaded futures are up to $2.70. Gasoline will be $3 before the end of the week. No price gouging. We've lost our only oil import terminal in South LA, and a lot of refining capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lowbrow Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Filled the SUV lastnight on a tip that we'd see a 20 cent rise today. It was empty anyway. Rather fill it for $41 rather than $45. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GoAtomic Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Filled the SUV lastnight on a tip that we'd see a 20 cent rise today. It was empty anyway. Rather fill it for $41 rather than $45. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Seen today on CNN.com: "Experts predict $4 a gallon gas" http://money.cnn.com/2005/08/31/news/gas_p...dex.htm?cnn=yes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dbigtex56 Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 "Going Up"! Cute, Bayou City Girl Still, since we have an existing thread going, I'm merging this one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldogg Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 "We've lost our only oil import terminal in South LA, and a lot of refining capacity. "Wrong..... reported today in Fairplay (shipping news) that LOOP survived... the ability to import is not affected... the LOOP provides about 11% of crude for the US... there were 9 platforms lost out in the Gulf however.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ldogg Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 what is funny is to go back and read the first few posts on this thread.... someone predicted $3 a gallon to happen in a couple of years!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pumapayam Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 It'll be three dollars a gallon in a matter of years as China and India continue to grow and develop.<{POST_SNAPBACK}>posted by mike, I wonder if he still comes on here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedScare Posted August 31, 2005 Share Posted August 31, 2005 Prices went up $.40 in North Carolina overnight.http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9146363/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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