A good letter from State Representative Harry Arora, except for his call for consumer relief

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This message arrived in my email box this morning and I’m reprinting it here because it makes some excellent points and contains some useful links:

Dear friend,

Eversource and UI announced that electric supply rates would be up nearly 50% for the first six months of 2023. Click HERE to read the Eversource press release. Natural gas prices for home heating have also increased by 25% in the last month and are expected to go up further. Below are the reasons behind the increases and the measures needed to protect our constituents.

Natural gas price spike is the driver behind these price spikes: Over half of all electricity in CT is produced using natural gas. As natural gas prices spike, electricity prices follow. There is a one-to-one linkage between natural gas and electricity prices.CT Natural gas prices are spiking because of a lack of pipeline capacity: We have abundant natural gas production in Texas, Pennsylvania, and other states in the United States. The PA shale reserves (Marcellus natural gas deposits) are among the world's largest. Please click HERE to see a graphic showing the shale deposits and the pipelines which move the natural gas to our state. However, there needs to be more pipeline capacity to transport natural gas from the gas fields in Pennsylvania and Texas to Connecticut during winter high-demand months.

Winter price spikes due to reliance on global gas: During summer months, when demand is lower, and there is enough pipeline capacity, natural gas prices in CT and PA are about the same - around $6 per MMBtu. However, in the upcoming winter months, prices in PA will continue to be around $6 per MMBtu, but prices in CT are $25 per MMBtu - an increase of 400%. In winter, the only source of additional natural gas in CT is the global LNG market, which is priced at $40 per MMBtu. Since the pipe capacity is sufficient for summer demand, prices will return to normal in the summer.

Why have we not built additional pipeline capacity? The industry has proposed several pipeline projects to bring natural gas into CT, RI, and MA. Click HERE to see the list of these projects. These projects have been opposed by many in the legislature and administration who are against investing in ANY hydrocarbon related project. These projects would be funded by the private sector and do NOT require any public funds; they require regulatory approvals. Due to the lack of government support, CT consumers will pay $1.5 billion in higher costs this winter; without such projects, spikes will continue for a decade.

Strategies to help residents manage this energy crisis: We must address this crisis in the short and long terms. There are three strategies to help residents in our state navigate this crisis:

  • We need to find some immediate relief for consumers. The General Assembly will have a special session next week to discuss energy prices.

  • We must provide consumers with information and resources to improve efficiency and reduce usage.

  • The legislature and administration need to work with the industry to approve the pipeline required to address the structural bottleneck.

Harry Arora

State Representative
Member - Energy & Technology Committee

Where I disagree is his stated intention to try to mitigate the effects of the country’s opposition to fossil fuels, to the extent that it may involve the usual legislative approach to problems, cash payments to voters, and attacks on “big oil”: reason hasn’t worked, so we should try pain.

One of my beloved daughters is a committed tree-hugger, yet when gasoline hit $5 a gallon in Colorado she admitted, “maybe we’re moving too fast on all this green energy stuff.” It’s like the mule skinner who, faced with an obstinate mule, picked up a 2X4 and smacked the poor creature in the head, knocking it to the ground. When the mule finally struggled to his feet and showed signs of behaving, the mule skinner explained to a horrified bystander, “first, you have to get their attention”.

I’m certainly not suggesting that the population be pummeled into submission to authority — quite the opposite effect is required, and besides, the Democrats are already focused on compelling obedience — but a winter or two of freezing in the dark might restore our country’s natural skepticism of “experts” and government apparatchiks, and only then can this insanity be reversed.

UPDATE: A response from our own Ignatius Reilly, one so shockingly cynical that I thought to drag it out of the comments section and display it here for all to see what has become of civilized discourse in our once-cozy community:

So of that whole letter, the only thing that will make it through Hartford is the immediate relief for consumers. IE take from the selfish rich and give it to the poor who cannot afford the high energy prices through no fault of their own (other than causing this in the first place by voting for people who destroyed our energy system in the name of global warming). Arora realizes you cannot win unless you pander to the gimme crowd. And he is not above doing that if it can improve his chances in some future state-wide election.

Did you get his email during the campaign that said you may be entitled to money from the State of Connecticut and Harry would help you get it? Hold on a second. I thought he was Indian, not Nigerian!