Tired talking points

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DAILY ENERGY NEWS | 01/05/2023

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They keep using the term deregulation. I don't think it means what they think it means.

New York Times (1/4/22) reports: "When California, New York, Texas and other states began deregulating their electricity markets in the 1990s, officials promised that those changes would foster competition and make energy more affordable. But it hasn’t worked out that way. Average retail electricity costs in the 35 states that have partly or entirely broken apart the generation, transmission and retail distribution of energy into separate businesses have risen faster than rates in the 15 states that have not deregulated, including Florida and Oregon. That difference has persisted for much of the past two decades or so, including in the past year, when energy prices increased worldwide after Russia invaded Ukraine. On average, residents living in a deregulated market pay $40 more per month for electricity than those in the states that let individual utilities control most or all parts of the grid. Deregulated areas have had higher prices as far back as 1998. 'After the numbers are that far apart for this long you have to wonder if something isn’t working very well,' said Robert McCullough, an energy researcher and consultant who analyzed electricity rate data at the request of The New York Times. 'If your car hasn’t been working for 20 years, maybe you should take it to the dealership.'"

"As much as Mr. Manchin doesn’t want to admit it, he bought a lemon when he voted for the IRA and now Americans are stuck with it."

– Wall Street Journal Editorial Board

This is the kind of information companies pay lobbyists top dollar for.

Real Clear Energy (1/3/23) column: "Mercifully, the time has come to close the books on 2022. That means reviewing the year that’s just about over and making some predictions about 2023...Informed by all of that, on what should the 118^th Congress focus? Or, more specifically, on what should the House majority focus, because we already know the Senate majority is going to focus confirming judges and preserving the funding they have already created. Let’s start with the things we know will need to happen. Sometime in the next 24 months, Congress will reauthorize the farm bill, reauthorize the Federal Aviation Act, increase the debt ceiling (probably in the third quarter of 2023), pass the National Defense Authorization Acts for both fiscal years 2024 and 2025, and pass funding measures for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Each of those legislative journeys will provide the Republicans in Congress with opportunities to drive their agenda...Congress can and should use the appropriations process to direct issues as nuanced and critical as pending Treasury guidance on the domestic content provisions of energy tax credits. Congress should instruct the Department of Homeland Security to, you know, defend the border, and compel the Department of Justice to enforce laws and preserve public safety in those places where local authorities either have not or cannot."

First, they came for the grocery bags...

We need to be less dependent on Russia. We need to be more dependent on China. Sound familiar?

Epoch Times (1/4/23) reports: "Europe’s push to transition toward absolute renewable energy while weaning away from depending on Russian energy supplies could make the bloc end up being too dependent on China instead, warns the Institute for Energy Research (IER). The European Union (EU) already relies on China for much of its solar panels. Between January and August 2022, solar panel sales from China to the EU rose to $16 billion, which is more than double the $7.2 billion during the year-ago period. In 2021, China accounted for 75 percent of worldwide solar panel production, while Europe stood at a measly 2.8 percent. China’s silicon production capacity is calculated to double, from 1.2 million tons in 2022 to 2.4 million tons, this year. “Now that Europe has moved away from buying energy from one authoritarian government, Russia, it is turning to another, China, who dominates the solar market and its components,” said the article. 'Europe should be worried more about energy security than it has shown in the last decade when it turned away from its own production of oil, natural gas, and coal, shuttering fossil fuel generators, cutting lease sales, and banning hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling.'"

Energy Markets

WTI Crude Oil: ↓ $72.72
Natural Gas: ↓ $3.84
Gasoline: ↑ $3.28

Diesel: ↑ $4.68
Heating Oil: ↓ $299.60
Brent Crude Oil: ↓ $77.82
US Rig Count: ↓ 844

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