# CPL didn't even buy me a drink first. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 26, 2008, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265 "2008-06-26T01:59:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/21 "2008-06-27T11:20:35Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] My rate isn’t that bad. Either some dipshit misread our meter, and its an honest mistake, – or CPL has gone monkeynut whack, and they’re gasping for more cash between slobbery breaths. [/QUOTE] That’s good. It was something easy to deal with, and you didn’t get a humongous rate increase. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 11:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/22 "2008-06-27T11:26:42Z")
Sadly, we’re still going with the monkeynut whack assumption. Not fun. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/23 "2008-06-27T11:53:31Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] Sadly, we’re still going with the monkeynut whack assumption. Not fun. [/QUOTE] I misread that to say you had a bad reading. Oops. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/24 "2008-06-27T12:57:38Z")
[QUOTE=Una Persson] Nope. There’s more natural gas generation than coal in Texas. [http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state\_energy\_profiles.cfm?sid=TX](http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/state/state_energy_profiles.cfm?sid=TX) [/QUOTE] HANK HILL: The virtues of propane . . . ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2008, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/25 "2008-06-27T13:08:16Z")
[QUOTE=T\_SQUARE] Henry Hub nat gas prices have gone up by a dollar or two, but local prices can swing quite a bit. I don’t have a Platt’s subscription anymore, can Natural Blond, or anyone else, get South Texas prices? [/QUOTE] Sorry don’t have a Platts subscription, but EIA has daily and weekly futures prices here for Henry Hub. Futures price for Henry Hub is here, contract one is one month delivery, contract 2 is two month delivery , same for 3 and 4. [http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/ng\_pri\_fut\_s1\_d.htm](http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/ng/ng_pri_fut_s1_d.htm) From Jan we to June there has been a steady increase from $8/mmbtu to $13/mmbtu, so that price alone could explain a big chunk of your gas bill rise. It should be noted the 4 month contract is marginally higher than the one month contract, which would tend to indicate people are expecting prices to continue to rise. disclaimer - I am not a gas trader, I am not your gas trader, the above does not constitute gas trading advice, any similarity to fact is purely coincidental in a blind monkey hitting a stopped clock twice a day type way, I just drill holes in the ground. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/26 "2008-06-28T00:49:38Z")
If you want to be really concerned about energy costs, [here’s](http://www.scanaenergy.com/en/business-service/commercial-industrial/gas-market-information/historical-gas-data/nymex-settlement-prices.htm)a look at the settlement prices for natural gas for the last several years. After staying fairly steady in the $6-$7 / MMBtu range for 2007, the price has been rocketing up at a rate of about $1 per month this year. At the $13.11 closing price for July, we’re nearing the historical highs in the upper $13 range set in the months after Katrina hit. Darth, most power companies post their rate schedules online. If you can give me a link to one, I’d be glad to try to assist in translating it if you need help. As a start, check out the number of days between readings that they have on your bill. Also, take a look at the reading they have on the bill, and go take a look at your meter to see if it looks like there could have been a mis-read. **Una** would be the person to consult on coal prices, but I do know that my major local power supplier has just requested a 13.63% rate increase based on the increased price of fuel, so presumably this in reaction to increased coal prices. (Where I live, 60% of electricity is generated from coal, and 30% from nuclear.) ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/27 "2008-06-28T01:00:10Z")
Missed the editing deadline ---- sorry, I didn’t read all the responses as closely as I should have before posting. My NYMEX prices were somewhat a duplicate of the ones NaturalBlondChap posted, but I find the format a bit more readable. Also, Una had pointed out that your local generation was more likely to be from gas than coal. If so, that would be a strong reason for a price increase. However, if that were the case, I’d expect you’d be hearing stories about major rate increases in the local news. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/28 "2008-06-28T01:31:22Z")
[QUOTE=YWalker] **Una** would be the person to consult on coal prices, but I do know that my major local power supplier has just requested a 13.63% rate increase based on the increased price of fuel, so presumably this in reaction to increased coal prices. (Where I live, 60% of electricity is generated from coal, and 30% from nuclear.) [/QUOTE] I’m actually somewhat limited in what I can say about Texas coal prices, as I’ve been retained as an expert witness in a dispute between a large utility and a railroad. However, in general I do not believe that delivered coal prices in Texas this year are significantly different than last year (and in the case of coal, there still is a very large amount of it under long-term fixed contract, which reduces price volatility.) YWalker, I’m very surprised that they would request a nearly 14% price increase and blame coal. AFAIK the delivered price of coal is expected to decrease to several NC plants due to scrubbers coming online allowing leveraging of high-sulfur NAPP and IB assets. Also, the transportation snarl on the East has largely let up, and Colombian prices to the eastern seaboard are becoming competitive again…long story short, I haven’t checked in a bit, but I would be very surprised and would really wonder about any increase in coal prices in your area greater than 1-2%. ---
**Author:** ![YWalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/6f9a4e/32.png) [@YWalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YWalker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/29 "2008-06-28T19:10:54Z")
Very interesting. Here is the a portion of the press release announcing the request for increase, though: > [@](#): > > RALEIGH, N.C. (June 6, 2008) – The same global economic influences that have caused prices to rise dramatically at the gas pump have pushed up the cost of other fuels in recent months. The increase – particularly in the price of coal used in electricity generation – has prompted Progress Energy Carolinas to seek an increase in the fuel component of the rates paid by the company’s N.C. customers. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/30 "2008-06-28T21:12:04Z")
Our power rates nearly doubled recently – it was supposed to happen a year ago, but the legislature forced the power companies to wait a year. Gee, thanks. So we had a year to know we were going to get screwed. :smack: Unfortunately, our house is easy to air condition but hard to heat. (Long story, due to the way it’s constructed, don’t ask.) I spend most of the winter wrapped in an electric blanket to keep the heat bill down. At least I can AC to my heart’s content and know our summer bills will only be half those of winter. Now if only our landlord would let us put in a dog door…seriously, that would save us a bundle. But as renters, we don’t have a lot of say in it, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2008, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265/31 "2008-06-28T22:25:36Z")
[QUOTE=YWalker] Very interesting. Here is the a portion of the press release announcing the request for increase, though: [/QUOTE] _Progress_ said that? Oh…wow…OK. Not that I could post anything here, but I think I’ll call a couple of their plant managers I know on Monday and ask what’s up. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cpl-didnt-even-buy-me-a-drink-first/454265.md?page=1)