Keeping The Lights On

(This information provided by Melvin Richardson, Vice-President of J&J Energy, Inc.)

  • Have you noticed the dramatic increase in your electric bills lately? 
  • Your bills are only going to get worse! 
  • It is not the electric companies trying to pocket more profits. 

 

Our problem is simple – the EPA has now shut down so many coal fired power plants that we are on the verge of an electricity shortage.    The next phase of shut downs will happen next April.  EPA has been so zealous in eliminating coal from our energy mix that it has not considered the consequences.

PJM Interconnection, the company that manages our grid could not meet the needs of all users in January (by their own admission).  Accordingly, PJM actually paid as much as $765 per MWh in January for purchased electricity (which came from manufacturers shutting down plants and reselling their electricity back to the grid at huge prices).  These increased costs get passed onto us. Want to see what PJM is paying for the electricity that ultimately comes to your home, Click here.

The EPA’s war on coal should be called the “EPA’s war on hard working Americans”.  By the way don’t blame PJM because it is their task to maintain the integrity of the grid.

Folks you need to contact all of your legislators and tell them to stop this foolishness until we put together a common sense approach that will not destroy jobs and paychecks.  We do not have the infrastructure in place to generate sufficient affordable electricity starting April, 2015.

According to all the pundits Natural Gas is the answer.   Well not so fast according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer….

The “dash to gas,” as Public Utilities Commission of Ohio Chairman Todd Snitchlerhas called it in testimony before federal regulators and Congress, is continuing even as gas prices have increased. One reason is that power companies are preparing for federal pollution standards that will require even more emission controls on their coal-burning power plants, making them obsolete and even more expensive to operate.

The new gas-fired electricity generating plants mean that electric companies are competing for fuel against local gas companies in the winter — stressing pipeline compressor stations and pipeline capacities.

The newest gas power plants are often connected directly to a major pipeline, completely bypassing the local gas company. That’s not a problem in the summer, say analysts. Nor has it been a widespread problem during the last decade of mild winters. But it’s a problem that state and federal regulators expect will mushroom into a crisis unless changes are made soon. Some of the changes will cost a lot of money.

A study done for the Midcontinent Independent System Operator, PJM’s counterpart headquartered in an Indianapolis suburb, estimated the cost of major new pipelines and laterals to the power plants in the Midwest at nearly $3 billion. (The entire article can be seen here)

 

This is a dubious concern.  

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