Beware Your New $1000 Electric Bill
Electricity prices have soared – and people are noticing. And it is getting harder to keep the lights on since electricity blackouts, power outages, government policy and supply constraints make hamper reliability. “Green” energy is a meme and catchword repeated endlessly. In fact, some members of Congress and President Biden have endorsed the “Green New Deal (GND).” Let’s look at what this entails and why you should beware your new $1000 electric bill if the current administration continues the GND policies.
The green new deal focuses almost exclusively on windmills, solar panels, and battery storage for electric power. Massive battery storage is required because wind and solar do not provide level power generation, especially at night. In fact, weather variations such as cold, rain, snow, cloud cover, hail, make these power sources operate in general at less than 20% of what they are supposed to produce. Apparently, a number of electric vehicle owners even found out that EV batteries might not charge at all in very cold weather – the EVs just become dead blocks of metal.
But the green new deal also focuses on phasing out fossil fuels and other non-renewable sources of power. It ignores the limits of rare earth elements needed to build the windmills, solar panels and battery storage. We also will ignore those extra costs. However, those limits are real and will impact any cost projects. So, the cost of your new electric bill may be understated. Have you read Winning Mortgage, Winning Home? If not, learn what you can do to plan for adversity in your mortgage, your budget, and your purchase experience. Please share this with friends www.mywinningmortgage.com
Biden Panic on Energy
White House officials grow increasingly alarmed about Europe’s energy crisis with Vladimir Putin’s threats to force a bleak winter on Europe.
Seeking to punish Russia for Ukraine and force retreat, Western allies moved to set a cap on prices for Russian oil. Putin said Russia would retaliate by cutting off gas and oil shipments. This could devastate Europe’s economy. It would hurt the United States by sending global energy prices soaring.
Industry and European Reactions
The GasTech 2022 conference in Milan in September 2022 wasn’t like any execs had ever seen. Those same “confident” energy ministry staff from Euro governments are privately in a full fledged panic trying to secure reliable supplies. One key problem is the lack of port delivery facilities for liquid gas product. Not quick to build—if ya ain’t got one now, won’t for 3-5 years.
For Europe now, beware your new $1000 electric bill might last for years (or in perpetuity) and soon to be followed in the US under the green new deal. Under Biden’s plans, the US market would follow Europe’s. How is Europe doing?
In one meeting a Pakistani speaker almost started crying describing the economic dislocation skyrocketing prices are causing. He was in a meeting with the Uniper company execs…and they are on the brink of shutting down absent massive cash infusion. His observations—Looked like hunted animals. Unless Vlad turns the spigot back on can’t see a happy ending. And major facilities like like aluminum smelters can’t flip “on/off”. Have to run continuously—$$ millions and months to deslag, clean and restart.
Europe’s energy crisis has left few businesses untouched, from steel and aluminum to cars, glass, ceramics, sugar and toilet-paper makers. Some industries, such as the energy-intensive metals sector, are shutting factories that analysts and executives say might never reopen, imperiling thousands of jobs.
The price of electricity in Germany skyrockets and reaches 1,000 euros – August 30 Update
8/29/2022, 5:50:50 AM
The price of electricity in the German wholesale futures market in August for contract electricity delivery in 2023 has marked a new milestone in its climb. It exceeded this Monday for the first time the 1,000 euros per megawatt-hour (MWh) for the first time on Monday. It doubled in price in just two weeks as a result of the energy supply crisis in the region, reports Europa Press.
The electricity price futures for 2023, according to data from the European Energy Exchange, collected by Bloomberg, have registered a rise of around 100% since last August 16 (2 weeks ago!) when they exceeded 500 euros per megawatt for the first time.
A year ago, the price of a megawatt hour was below 90 euros.
According to data from Bloomberg, the price of energy in Germany for 2023 reached 1,050 euros per megawatt-hour at 10:19 am in Berlin, after last Friday they exceeded the threshold of 1,000 euros in the case of France.
In the Real World Example below, we noted how prices were 5-6 times higher than a year ago. Now re-read the section below and note that electricity prices as of August 30 are now 10-14 times higher than a year ago in Germany and France where “green” energy initiatives took root. Imagine your monthly electricity bill going from $100/month to $1200/month! The Biden administration is embracing that policy and has specifically said that consumers must see higher prices for all energy as a goal of the administration.
Real World Examples-Germany
Fortunately, there are real world examples of embracing elements of the green new deal. However, the examples only implement a portion of the goals of the GND. Total implementation would provide a further increase in your new electric bill once completed. One current example is Germany. Germany moved to phase out non-renewable power sources, including natural gas, coal and other sources rapidly in the last few years. That phase out isn’t yet complete, but it already has a big effect on electricity prices. What has been that effect on electricity costs in Germany from 2019 to 2022 with only a partial implementation of GND? The following chart shows the change in electricity prices from January 2019 to July 2022. Note that the costs increased about 545 %. But now up more than 1000% as of the end of August 2022. Actual, real world effect.
What About Your Mortgage Payments?
Do you have a $100 per month electric bill to go with your rent or mortgage payment? Following this example, your new electric bill is $545/month. How about $1200/month? Are you ready for that in your budget??? In addition, Germany currently faces massive blackouts and industry shutdowns for lack of power. Will you continue to have a steady job? Already large areas in the US face rolling blackouts from implementing a tiny fraction of the GND goals of wind and solar and shutting down power plants that provided continuous, reliable, affordable electricity generation. Pie in the sky Theory which doesn’t follow actual real world and science can be seductive. And it can be really, really painful when reality intrudes. So, beware your new $1000 electric bill when ”green” energy comes calling for your vote.
In fact, analysts now expect that households in Germany may have to burn wood in fireplaces for heat instead of using other sources since those other sources (wind, solar, nuclear [Germany phasing out], gas [Germany failed to develop gas resources and relied on Russia for gas, since restricted or shut off], coal deliveries, etc). German households may have the privilege of paying 5-6 times or 10-14 times as much for electricity, but it may not even be available, returning Germany to the 1800s in burning wood or coal for heat and candles for light.
And Germany is not alone
On August 25th, England set new pricing for electricity after its reliance on “green” energy proved truly unreliable. Sri Lanka was crippled on food as well as energy after embracing green new deal programs.
As countries get suckered into the “green” energy FOMO fad, crippling food shortages and energy prices abound. Sri Lanka went from exporting food to near starvation and an overthrow of the prime minister. He fled the country after imposing “green” measures which created massive food shortages. The Netherlands and England have proposals to follow suit to add mass food shortages to extreme energy price hikes. England is already there though!
A third of Brits face poverty with energy bills set to hit $5,000
August 9, 2022
London (CNN Business)Nearly one third of households in the United Kingdom will face poverty this winter after paying energy bills that are set to soar again in January. About 10.5 million households will be in fuel poverty for the first three months of next year, according to estimates from the End Fuel Poverty Coalition (EFPC) published on Tuesday — meaning that their income after paying for energy will fall below the poverty line.
January’s forecast represents a 116% increase in energy bills from current levels. The average UK household bill has already risen 54% this year.
August 26, 2022 —
Every week, the people who trade electricity in the UK get to quiz the managers of the national grid for an hour. The conference call is open to anyone. It offers an insight into the worries of people on the front line of the power market. Listening to them is getting scarier by the week. The latest calls suggest keeping the lights on this winter will be a lot more challenging than European governments are admitting.
Prices are worrying enough. British households were told on Friday that their power and gas bills will increase Oct. 1 by 80%. The so-called energy price cap was set at £3,549 ($4,189) per year, up from £1,971 over the past six months and £1,277 during last winter. That’s triple in less than a year. And the forecast January price increase has yet to be provided.
Beware your new $1000 electric bill. The Biden administration already has begun a similar process in phasing out reliable power.
US Prices
But what about prices in the US? What generates electricity in the US? Mainly natural gas, coal, nuclear. Some wind and solar projects produce electricity, but the share remains low and inconsistent. Especially in the winter.
What about natural gas prices in the US to generate electricity? Tripled in a year. How about oil and gasoline prices? After blocking, demonizing, stopping and attacking oil and gas production in the US, Biden turned to OPEC, the Middle East and Russia for emergency help. The attacks by the Biden administration had the effect of lowering oil and gas production in the US, resulting in a spike in prices. They’ve slipped from recent peaks, but look at Biden emptying the Strategic Petroleum Reserve solely for political reasons to blunt prices. The amount stored in the SPR has dropped by 50% in a few months. At this rate, it would be almost empty by the 2022 election – or is that the goal to get through the election and then not care about oil and gas prices of consumers?
