Energy Costs

We are all feeling it at the pump, and many of us have changed our behavior or absorbed the cost. But this is not the heating season, and that will add more to the burden. Here is a table of heating oil futures:


Avoiding an explanation for the the index numbers, the gist is this: heating oil price has increased around 100 percent in the last year. 100 Percent.

This next table is for Natural Gas out of the New York Mercantile exchange:


This is cost per million BTU, the actual energy content. It shows a recent drop.

The other chart I will link to for it is too large; it is propane prices for the last 18 years. Relative stability until 2004, but over a 100 % increase since then. Ouch.

Essentially, the last several years have seen enormous increases. Most have been able to absorb the costs, though low income people haven't. This is crucial for our area. Living here is energy intensive for over half the year. Not everyone can adapt by throwing more wood in the stove however, and large institutions definitely cannot. Their budgets will truly hurt, and that impact will really start to hit home now. I would argue that efficiency investment should come first. Handing out cash to boondoggles like excelsior needed to end yesterday.