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Tag: Energy Prices

  • How to Get The Best Electricity Rates in Sugar Land, TX

    You’re current electricity contract is coming up and you recently checked on rates for electricity.

    SHOCK!

    Electricity prices are crazy high in Texas right now and are expected to trend higher. What can you do… whether you are searching for your business or home, should you use an independent broker to get the best electric rates in Sugar Land?

    Answer: Absolutely… and it costs you nothing!

    Wizard energy is an independent electricity/energy broker that forces big energy companies to compete for your business. To best electric rates in Sugar Land, we make the electricity providers bid with their best possible rate. When they bid for one of our clilents, they know that Wizard Energy gives them the opportunity to bid on dozens of other customers every year. Collectively, this drives your price down!

    Save on Your Electric Bill

    GET THE BEST ELECTRICTY RATE

    We love to hustle in order to lower your electric bill and save you money…

    …so you make your business better without worrying about overhead!

    CONTACT US TODAY
    CALL US: 713-396-0090

    We get you the best possible electric rate no matter what. People are also asking:

    Who has the lowest rate for electricity?
    Who has the cheapest electricity rates in Texas?
    What hours is electricity the cheapest?
    Who has the highest electric rates in Texas?
    How do I reduce my electric bill?
    How many kWh per day is normal?
    How can I get cheap electricity in Texas?
    What is the best electric plan in Texas?
    What is the average electric bill in Texas?
    How do I choose a Texas electric provider?

    These are things that we are more than happy to explain to you, but you don’t have to bother with.

    In addition to making electricity companies compete for your business, another reason we get better pricing is because the electricity companies know we help many clients. When a single business owner goes directly to an energy company, you’re offering them one (1) contract. Compare this to Wizard Energy giving them the opportunity to bid on dozens of customers every year… who do you think is more likely to get a better price?

    Do you have time to scour companies and plans for the best electricity rates in Sugar Land?

    Wizard Energy has the experience and know-how to request bids from all the electricity companies, review the terms and small print (we know what to look for), and select the best rate based on the market condition and constantly changing prices.

    Wizard Energy Handles The Time-Consuming Business to Get The Best Rate

    • Review of your electricity usage and load profile
    • Request bids from electricity providers
    • Analyze electricity contracts and review fine print
    • Review electric bills and rates to make sure of your rate

    More Reasons Why We Get You The Best electricity Rate in Sugar Land

    We offer our clients independent, personal service. We are impartial and not tied to any electricity provider, big or small. We compare more than 20 suppliers to help find the right deal for each individual business.

    Electricity can be one of the greatest operating expenses a company faces, so we’ll make sure you’re getting the best energy rate possible by making big electricity companies compete for your business.

    Wizard Energy does all the legwork for you. We analyze your energy usage, speak to suppliers, and gather all the options so that all you need to do is select the deal that suits you. It’s pretty obvious… LOWEST PRICE!

    Save Money on Electricity in 2022


    Electricity Prices Are Going Up – Here Are Other Ways to Save

  • ERCOT Says Summer Demand Will Break Records & Hike Electric Prices

    Demand for power this summer is expected to shatter previous records, ERCOT revealed in a report released Monday. But officials with the state’s grid operator say they anticipate having enough generation to meet the soaring need. Still, Texans have been asked recently to make a few sacrifices amid unseasonably hot weather.

    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) made the request Friday after rising temperatures caused a drastic spike in power demand. The organization said the demand was so high that it caused six power facilities to go offline unexpectedly. According to CNN, the plant failures resulted in a loss of about 2,900 megawatts of generation—enough electricity to power roughly 580,000 homes.

    May is a shoulder month (when generation facilities intentionally go offline to perform maintenance before summer), but ERCOT asked companies to delay maintenance to ensure demand will not outstrip supply rightnow. The request comes more than a year after a winter storm caused statewide power outages.

    Higher Electricity Pries Expected This Summer

    The Summer Seasonal Assessment of Resource Adequacy (SARA) report said Texans could use as much as 77,317 megawatts during a day at the season’s peak, well above the previous record of about 74,800 megawatts set in August 2019. One megawatt is enough to power about 200 homes on a hot summer day. Officials with the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, however, said that as much as 91,392 megawatts will be available.

    The report comes the same day ERCOT extended its warning of potential emergency conditions through the end of the week. That will be 17 straight days that the grid operator has told power generators to defer maintenance and produce power so there is enough to meet increased demand due to hot weather that has blanketed most of Texas this month.

    On Friday, conditions on the grid became so tight that ERCOT asked Texans to conserve power through the weekend. To keep up with the demand, ERCOT ordered that all power generators that were able to work to come online to help. The conservation notice ended on Sunday and was not extended into this week as of Monday afternoon.

    Though ERCOT does not expect blackouts this coming week, they have called on consumers to reduce their power usage during peak hours: 3 p.m. and 8 p.m. Texas residents are asked to avoid uses large appliances, such as washers and dryers, during the time period, and set their thermostats to 78 degrees or above.

    Last weekend, temperatures in Texas reached the 90s on Saturday and low 100s Sunday, roughly 10 to 15 degrees above than average.

  • Gas Prices Reach Yearly High in 2022

    In another blow to the US economy facing high energy prices and soaring electricity rates, prices at the pump have escalated to fresh record highs for the year. The national average price for regular gasoline climbed more than four cents on Tuesday to $4.37 a gallon, according to AAA. That takes out the prior record of $4.33 set on March 11. Prices are up 17 cents in the past week alone! Pump prices are up around 25% since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine roiling global energy markets.

    The national average dipped to as low as $4.07 a gallon back in April after the release of oil from emergency reserves. That relief was short-lived and minor.

    Energy Prices Could Get Worse

    Real gas prices, adjusted for inflation, would need to climb above $5.30 a gallon to break the records set in 2008, according to the US Energy Information Administration. The latest spike in gas prices will only make today’s inflation problems worse, and for the most part won’t be captured in Wednesday’s closely watched inflation report.

    Many are concerned higher prices are coming. They expect retail prices to jump to $4.50 a gallon in the next week to 10 days.

    The Energy Spike

    The gas spike will add to inflationary pressures that have raised fears of incredibly high electricity rates, potential economic recession, and soured Americans’ views on the economy.

    Beyond concerns about China’s Covid lockdowns, oil dropped because it was swept up in the gloom-and-doom on Wall Street as stocks dropped. Crude prices were just slightly lower Tuesday morning.

    Gas prices move with a lag to oil, and the good news is that oil prices fell sharply Monday, perhaps taking some pressure off pump prices. US oil tumbled 6% to $103.09 a barrel on Monday, its worst day since late March.

  • Legal Arguments on $9,000 Electricity Rates in Texas

    The Texas Public Utility Commission’s February 2021 emergency rules allowing an increase in electric rates to $9,000 per megawatt hour in response to Winter Storm were invalid and screwed up the state’s power system.

    Dallas-based Luminant Energy asked a 3-judge panel in the Texas Third Court of Appeals in Austin to declare that the PUC illegally adopted two pricing rules during the historic storm that allowed the Electric Reliability Council of Texas to increase the emergency price of electricity 650% for five days.

    The PUC contended that the energy companies are simply upset because they lost money during Winter Storm and extreme weather conditions.

    Many argue that the PUC decision to set rates at $9,000 for the five days during the winter storm forced many electric providers to pay billions to provide power to their residential and commercial customers, while other electric companies profited by selling power at high rates.

    Impact on Providers & Electric Rates

    The decision by the Austin Court of Appeals will dramatically impact the efforts by more than a dozen electric providers challenging their ERCOT invoices.

    The winter storm that hit Texas on Feb. 14, 2021, caused the electricity to go out in large portions of the state, especially in the Houston area. Power demand surged in other metro areas, and at the same time, many electric generators went off-line because natural gas providers were unable to supply product to electric generators.

    Sneaky Electricity Price Manipulation

    In a six-minute meeting Feb. 15, the PUC decided to address the gap between supply and demand by issuing an emergency reset of the maximum price to $9,000 per megawatt hour, which is way up from $1,200. It also made the $9,000 price retroactive to Feb. 14. The next day, however, the PUC met again and rescinded the retroactive part of its order.

    Electricity Price Competition

    The high-stakes litigation pits the energy companies against each other… Houston-based Pattern Energy, Exelon Generation and Constellation NewEnergy are supporting Luminant in the litigation. All are fighting multibillion-dollar charges as a result of the $9,000 price. Lawyers argued that both emergency pricing rules were invalid for multiple reasons, including the fact that the PUC never filed the rule change with the Secretary of State’s office. This is a case where the agency disregarded legal procedures. It did not follow the law. The PUC has staked out extreme and unprecedented positions.

    Houston-based Calpine Corporation, Talen Energy and TexGen Power support the PUC position. Spring, Texas-based DGP2 and Distributed Solutions argue that the first PUC rule is valid but the second-day rule rescinding retroactivity was illegal. Companies like Luminant are just using the litigation to try to shift their market losses to other parties.

    Texas Assistant Solicitor General, Lisa Bennett (representing the PUC), told the judges that the PUC did not violate Texas law because the agency’s actions were a direction to ERCOT, not rulemaking. She argued that the law provides wide discretion for the PUC to make such decisions because the PUC’s actions were taken during an extreme emergency and because there was a flaw in the system – there were negative reserves, but the price was not going up.

    Hindsight

    When the emergency passed, market participants assessed the financial outcomes of the complex actions they and others had taken in the market during the storm, and some suffered staggering losses. In hindsight, some market participants now want to blame the PUC for their losses and argue that the orders were illegal all along.

  • Energy Crisis: Russia Cuts Gas Flow to Poland & Bulgaria

    Oil is going up again after Russia cut natural gas supplies to Poland and Bulgaria, escalating the energy crisis.

    West Texas Intermediate traded above $102 a barrel after going up another 3.2% Tuesday. Add to that, European gas prices surged as much as 24% Wednesday after Russia halted flows to Poland and Bulgaria. Putin made good on a threat to stop supply to countries that refuse his demand to pay for the fuel in rubles, not Euro or U.S. Dollars.

    Adding fuel to the fire of energy and electricity energy prices going up, Germany said a full embargo on Russian oil would be manageable, potentially laying the groundwork for a continent-wide ban that may upend global crude trade. The U.S. and U.K. have already pledged to ban imports from the OPEC+ producer too.

    Electricity Prices Will Go Up

    The renewed geopolitical risk to electricity prices has come as the tightest corner of the oil sector flared up again. U.S. diesel futures settled at a record Tuesday, while profits from making the fuel in Europe are the highest since 2011. Russia is Europe’s largest external supplier of the middle distillate. Russia’s latest actions provide an alarming glimpse of things to come for other EU members and has put energy security concerns front and center of the political agenda.

    In Asia, there are some signs emerging from China that Shanghai may ease lockdown measures as infections dropped to the lowest in three weeks while case numbers in Beijing stabilized. President Xi Jinping also made a commitment to boost infrastructure construction to bolster the economy.

    The API (American Petroleum Institute) reported that U.S. crude stockpiles rose by 4.78 million barrels last week. This may help ease some of the pain on electricity prices, but it may end up being negligible in the long run if Russia continues to antagonize the world.

  • Batteries, Solar, Wind and Hydropower Can Lower Electric Rates & Curb Rising Temps

    The need to transition to renewable energy is becoming more urgent for many reasons.

    The pace in which the world needs to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy needs to urgently accelerate as the threat from rising global temperatures increases each day increasing climate disasters and driving up electricity prices.

    There is a more than 50% chance that temperatures will exceed 2C unless the climate pledges made leading up to the 2021 U.N. Climate Change Conference are not strictly adhered to. This increase would push global temperatures past the worst-case scenario and past the point that any human civilization in history has experienced.

    Renewable to The Rescue of Climate and Electricity Rates

    Renewable energy will be instrumental in reducing the global reliance of fossil fuels, the leading cause of the greenhouse emissions that are accelerating the warming. Even so, fossil fuels are deeply embedded in the foundation of the world economy. Making clothes, producing crops, and electricity for homes all involve processes that utilize crude oil, natural gas and coal. Most of the energy services, including electricity generation, are derived from fossil fuels. Global energy consumption has grown tenfold since the turn of the 20th century. Industrial manufacturing is the largest consumer of electricity/energy (33%), followed by transportation, and then residential. But the current energy model is not sustainable. It will need to change quickly to mitigate the dangerous warming that could plague generations to come.

    “When you turn on your lights in 30 to 40 years, if everything goes well, the energy to power your home to get your electricity on is going to be powered by renewables.”

    Molly Taft, Science Reporter – Gizmodo

    The key to this lofty but attainable goal will be the decisions that the private sector and government make in the near future to prevent weather-climate disasters that drive of the cost of electricity and energy.

    Fossil fuels, which contain carbon, release carbon dioxide when burned and interact with the oxygen in the atmosphere. Those greenhouse gases are the culprit for the “thermal instability” that is leading to an increase of severe weather events including drought, wildfires and rising sea levels. Scientists have found that since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in the 18th century atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide has increased nearly 49%, which is more than the increase of the previous 20,000 years.

    The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that warming above 1.5 degrees Celsius, considered the conservative warming figure, will lead to further increases in those deadly extreme natural disasters. The world will see more intense storms, more intense wildfires, and intense rains. The renewable energy transition is about making sure it doesn’t get that much worse. And saving on electricity costs will allow the world to focus resources on other matters.

    Cost competitive and renewable energy drawn from solar and wind power have the ability to become the primary energy source. The doubts that people had about whether the world could transition to another energy foundation have been disproven. Nevertheless, it will take a significant societal shift to change the course of the warming on the planet. The U.S.A. is far from reaching a net-zero carbon emissions economy, but over the last twenty years innovation has driven renewable prices down and demand is up… a factor impacting elevated electric costs. The majority of the responsibility lies on the industrial sector, but even something as simple as switching from gas-powered stoves to electric in homes will make a difference.

    In addition, people who live in cities can add to the conservation effort by biking or taking public transportation. These adjustments will have additional benefits for all residents: cleaner air and less noise. Those who drive can switch to electric cars which will decrease the 337 million gallons of gasoline consumed by Americans per day.

    However, the climate fight goes far beyond individual lifestyle changes. Even the shifting away from construction materials, such as steel and concrete that make up about 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions, will be necessary. There will also be an increased reliance on batteries in the future. Some will be used to store renewable energy sourced from wind and solar power. In addition, the cost of lithium ion has fallen 97% over the past three decades, making the use of batteries more affordable.

  • Revival Of Nuclear Energy May Help Lower Electric Rates Eventually

    War in Ukraine is causing an energy reset. Western governments are rethinking dependence on Russian oil and gas, and it is a big opportunity for nuclear power to grow and help to lower electricity prices in Texas as well as the rest of the country and the world. Last week Britain announced it will begin developing small scale, modular nuclear power plants. The new energy path is a big win for uranium assets and electricity consumers.

    The emergence of nuclear as a clean energy source seemed unlikely. Nuclear power has been derided for four decades. The number of plants globally peaked in 1996 when 17.5% of all electric power was generated in those facilities. Since then public has opinion soured and the political will to keep plants open waned.

    Nuclear Energy Downfall

    Electricity Prices Goes Up

    Environmental movements gained global traction in the 1970s and nuclear energy was the perfect fall guy. Radiation poisoning was invisible and lethal. This was exploited in 1979 by The China Syndrome, a big budget Hollywood film that mirrored a partial meltdown earlier that year at Three Mile Island, a Pennsylvania nuclear facility. Although epidemiological studies later showed no increase in cancers in the area, fears of living near nuclear facilities grew exponentially.

    A complete meltdown in 1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear reactor led to the depopulation of 68,000 people across 1,000 square miles in northern Ukraine. And 154,400 Japanese were evacuated in 2011 when a nuclear plant in Fukushima was damaged following an earthquake and tsunami.

    Nuclear power plants all over the world began to close. Today these facilities generate only 10.3% of the world’s electricity. It is a contributing factor to electricitiy rates continuing to go higher and higher. The oddity is nuclear power is clean, green, sustainable and statistically much safer than most other forms of power generation, according to research compiled by Our World in Data.

    Nuclear Power Can Be Green and Cheaper for Electricity

    Nuclear facilities are essentially extremely large tea kettles. The power-generation process begins when a uranium atom is split in half to create fission. This releases a tremendous amount of energy. Rods of the fissionable material are cooled in water, creating steam that spins a turbine and creates electricity.

    Most coal or natural gas power plants generate electricity the same way. The difference is uranium is a far more efficient source of energy. A single set of rods the size of a fireplace log holds enough energy to power 100 homes for a year. Uranium is also cleaner. Using it to create electricity does not release carbon into the atmosphere. This is especially as the world races toward zero emissions.

    The Future of Nuclear Energy

    The United Kingdom had 15 nuclear facilities operating in 1997, generating 27% of the country’s electricity. By 2024 only two plants will remain. With the help of Rolls Royce, Prime Minister Johnson wants to reverse the trend. The goal is to build smaller power generation facilities based on Rolls’ nuclear-powered submarine engines.

    It might be the perfect solution for an economy shying away from carbon emissions, and the perils of dependence on Russia oil and gas. The Netherlands, Czechia, Poland, Estonia, Slovenia and Serbia are now studying their nuclear options. Also, the European Union has labelled nuclear power as a climate-friendly investment.

  • Electricity Will Be Much More Expensive Next Winter

    Prepare now and lock in your electric rates!

    Electric rates are expected to spike next winter, reaching their highest point in at least two decades on the back of higher energy demand and market turmoil caused by the war in Ukraine. The electric rate could reach 15.6 cents a kilowatt hour, according to estimates.

    If that happens, the rate for many would be nearly double what was just approved by state regulators for the summer. As a result, the monthly bill for a typical residential customer, after delivery and other fees are factored in, would jump from about $111 to more than $150. The prospects aren’t looking good for ratepayers.

    “These are the highest futures prices that I recall in my 10-plus years doing this,”

    James Ruebenacker, manager of wholesale electric supply for National Grid in New England
    Electricity Prices Going Up

    Electric Prices Rising Nationwide

    Electric rates across the nation were already going up coming into this year as the economy started recovering from the COVID pandemic. The average electric price nationwide last year rose at its fastest pace since 2008, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The surge came as the price of natural gas, a major fuel for electric generation, more than doubled. The trend is expected to continue this year.

    Wholesale electric prices this past January hit their highest point in eight years while real-time and day-ahead power prices more than tripled compared to January 2021. The effects are already being felt by consumers… rates climbed 20-25% in January.

    Next winter the country will feel more of the effects of the overheated energy market.

    Electric Rates Tied to Price of Natural Gas

    The last time electric rates approached what’s being projected was in the winter of 2015. Before that, consumers would have to go back to 2008 to find a similar spike in the price of power. Amid a global surge in oil and natural gas prices, the winter rate hit 12.4 cents a kilowatt hour.

    Both previous price hikes came in large part from an increasing reliance on natural gas for power generation. With more power generators depending on the fuel source to create electricity, power suppliers have been thrown into competition with the heating market to get gas. The result has been a pattern of peaks and valleys in electric prices, with increases in the winter when gas needs are high and decreases in the summer when demand ebbs. The pattern has only grown more dramatic in recent years.

    War in Ukraine also pushing up energy prices

    The war in Ukraine is only adding to the upward pressure. European countries are looking for alternatives to Russia for sources of natural gas, meaning that already-high prices to ship liquefied supplies of the fuel are climbing even more.

    Within the next few years, offshore wind is expected to help fill that load, but some regions continue to get as much as 20% of power from oil-burning plants. The electricity from those plants is expensive and is expected to become more costly with global oil prices nearly double what they were a year ago.

    When compared to data going back to 2000, the projected rates will be the highest on record. Even in an apples-to-apples comparison of winter rates only, it still stands out, at nearly 50% higher than other recent peaks.

    Regulators urge Consumers to Prepare for Rate Increases

    Understanding why price increases happen is helpful for many but it doesn’t help pay the bills. Customers are encouraged to reduce usage through energy efficiency programs. By next winter, the price is projected to reach 14.5 cents pre kWh… It is a reflection of global energy markets.