Energy Consulting News

Natural gas prices have begun to rally as of late. This rally is beginning to reverse the long decline started in the summer of 2011 with storage volume falling below the five-year average. Natural gas futures settled at a 20-month high after rallying, and may creep up even higher.

A winter that was colder than last year contributed to the decrease in storage with residential and commercial consumption using more of it as heating fuel, and more consumption in the past month because of colder weather in March. The storage level as of March 29th is 37 billion cubic feet lower than the five-year average, according to the EIA.

An excellent way for industrial facilities to effectively manage their energy costs can be through obtaining a “block and index” price for their energy supply contract. This is a useful way to manage risk through hedging. It is a process that energy procurement analysts don’t take lightly when they are focusing on utilizing the forward market to gain energy cost savings for a firm.

In a “block and index” contract, a firm purchases a “block” of energy in the forward market to lock in a future price for a fixed quantity of energy they are going to use during specific times. If and when the facility uses electricity over and above the block purchase, the customer’s hourly consumption is subject to the hourly market price plus a fixed “adder” for non-energy costs.

Energy consulting firm BidURenergy considers their client in the increasingly volatile market for energy, inviting more businesses to have their energy costs managed this year.

Buffalo, NY – April 10, 2013

This week BidURenergy, Inc. (BUE), an energy consulting firm with thousands of clients across the nation, disclosed a new analysis to help foster energy consumer strength in the fragile U.S. economy. The details of the new business analysis, which were released by the firm on Monday, specify market trends that may have commercial and industrial energy customers budgeting too much, while offering strategies for effectively managing their energy costs. The details of the market trend analysis are enumerated below.

1. Requests by government entities and utilities for facility retirement, construction, and enhancement makes way for unnecessary costs to be relayed to customers. This is a critical time for utility customers to participate in the wholesale energy market and take control of their energy budgets. By procuring energy directly from a chosen supplier, and getting away from default service, energy customers can save up to 25% on the supply portion of their energy bills.

2. Natural gas prices are coming-off 10-year lows, but energy customers may still be able to save today before prices begin to soar. If energy customers don’t wait too long to switch from utility default service, customers may choose an energy supplier that sells natural gas at a lower cost or uses low-costing natural gas to generate electricity. Energy customers may find energy-cost savings by procuring their energy in the retail market with a fixed-rate contract or a block and index plan before the price of natural gas begins to rise again.

3. Utility bills are very complex. They include dozens of cost components that are grouped together within energy bills. This and other itemizing on a customer’s utility bills may lead to money overpaid in error. Most financial controllers don’t have the time to look over their bills for mistakes, and these overlooked mistakes can add up in years of billing history. Utility customers in many situations can benefit from having their energy bills audited by a specialist.

4. State and local government appropriation has made procurement from renewable generation facilities more affordable than ever, and this can easily give businesses some environmental-credibility while costing less than it had years ago. Energy customers, in many deregulated energy markets, have retail choice in electricity supplier and the authority to choose an energy supplier that uses renewable sources to generate electricity.

BUE releases this market trend analysis to make utility customers aware of simple strategies to effectively manage their energy costs. The firm also announces that it is inviting new, qualifying clients who wish to take advantage of its consulting services. The firm explains that there is plenty of opportunity for new clients to save a great deal on energy costs.

“We are seeing plenty of opportunities for customers to form energy management plans, while effectively managing their firm’s energy costs – customers just need to be aware of these strategies in the current energy market in order to save money. BUE invites new businesses to become clients of the firm, get a personal energy consultant, and start using these strategies to manage their firm’s energy costs,” asserts Matthew Faulkner, Business Analyst at BidURenergy.

Faulkner adds that prospective clients can start working with an energy consultant right away by calling BUE’s toll-free Energy Management Hotline at 877-669-8243. Consultants are standing by to answer questions about a client’s energy management.

About BidURenergy, Inc. - BUE is an electricity and natural gas consulting firm with thousands of clients across the nation, specializing in energy procurement auction administration, and utility bill auditing. The firm’s energy services are available to industrial, commercial, and retail companies. More information is available at www.bidurenergy.com.

On Wednesday, the New York ISO posted its latest auction results for capacity pricing this summer. The auction resulted in higher capacity prices for the summer of 2013. The capacity prices per kilowatt-month increase by 34.6 percent for New York City, and more than doubled for the Rest of State (ROS).

The capacity pricing for the upcoming summer goes as follows:

NYC: $14.80/kW-month

ROS: $4.20/kW-month

The capacity charge is the rate per kilowatt-month businesses must pay to the utility to maintain the needed generation capacity. The generation capacity, as defined by the EIA, is “the maximum output, commonly expressed in megawatts (MW), that generating equipment can supply to system load, adjusted for ambient conditions.”

For more information regarding our energy consulting services and New York electric rates, click here and read this page.

Matthew Faulkner
Business Analyst
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http://bidurenergy.com

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported on Thursday that 2012 energy-related carbon dioxide emissions were the lowest annual volume since 1994. The CO2 emissions totaled 5.3 billion metric tons last year, which follows a declining trend started in 2007.

The report stated that the large drop in emissions was a result of natural gas replacing coal as a source of electric-power generation.

“During 2012, particularly in the spring and early summer, low natural gas prices led to competition between natural gas- and coal-fired electric power generators. Lower natural gas prices resulted in reduced levels of coal generation, and increased natural gas generation—a less carbon-intensive fuel for power generation, which shifted power generation from the most carbon-intensive fossil fuel (coal) to the least carbon-intensive fossil fuel (natural gas),” the report asserts.

The report also highlights other factors playing a role in the lower emissions. Some of these factors include lower demand for transportation fuels, like gasoline, and a milder winter that reduced demand for heating fuels, such as natural gas. It is also important to note that the warmer winter months more than offset the increased electricity demand during the hotter summer days.

This data will surely impact those that are concerned with environmental issues. Another way to lower energy-related carbon emissions might be through a business working with an energy consultant to form an energy management plan. By creating an energy management plan, businesses can learn about ways to reduce their peak demand, curtail their energy use, make a building more energy efficient, and procure energy from a supplier that uses renewable generation. Click here or read this page for more information.

Matthew Faulkner
Business Analyst
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