Thursday February 28, 2013
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Your Energy Stories
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Listen to Mike on various energy issuesI asked, and you answered--by the hundreds. In an effort to personalize the energy crisis, I asked Idahoans to share how high energy prices are affecting their lives. And the response was immediate and overwhelming! More than 600 stories came through at an email address set up for this purpose within the first 24 hours. The total now stands are well over 1,200. Each day the U.S. Senate is in session, I am submitting between ten and fifteen to the Congressional Record. Please note that some of the e-mails have been edited to conform to the requirements for submission to the Congressional Record. These are the stories I submitted on May 13, 2009, which was the last day for the submissions. In all, more than 1,200 stories were published in the Congressional Record and I thank all those who took the time to share their thoughts with me.
My comments on the Senate floor after submitting to the Congressional record the final stories from Idahoans on how high energy costs are affecting them.
Not too long ago, I was considering purchase of a residential solar array. I have read examples about people in other states (California, Massachusetts, etc.) who had implemented a solar array at home (including an inverter), which enabled them to generate some of their own power/electricity. Most importantly, they are able to sell their excess power via the inverter to the grid when they are not using it. This is an equal rate, meaning that the utility company would buy it at whatever their current rate was at that time of day. Basically, your electricity meter spins backwards according to the amount you contribute to the utility. In this way, people are able to "bank" kilowatts into the grid so that the power they used at night was somewhat paid for (depending on the size of their array, rate of usage and amount of sunshine available, obviously).
After talking to some people locally, I have heard that Idaho Power does not have anything remotely like this policy in place. In fact, it sounded like they are only required to pay ~50% the value of the power your array might generate and feed to the grid via your inverter, and only for a set volume. After reaching a particular level, the utility would be capturing a lot of that resident provider's power for free. This appears to be an unfair practice to me, and really tramples on any incentive for buying and implementing a residential solar array. There is a federal tax credit available, but that just addresses start-up costs, not long-term usage and maintenance.
I am no energy expert and do not claim to have validated all of the data I put forth above, but I am very interested in pursuing a solar-energy based solution to cut my long-term energy costs. Given the days of sun per year in southwest Idaho, this seems like a no-brainer.
Please tell me about your position on residential solar energy implementation practices here in Idaho, and specifically how you would vote on a bill that would require our local energy provider (read: Idaho Power) to fairly compensate residential energy providers, using the scenario I mentioned above. This will directly impact how I vote in the future.
John, Boise
Senator Crapo, this information seems to be right on. I hope you will take the time to read it.
Mary, Sandpoint.
Dear Mary,
On several occasions in the past few months, I have written about the impact of skyrocketing fuel prices on airline customers – in their daily lives and when they travel (Final Approach May 1 and Final Approach May 28). In the long run, to lower oil prices for all Americans, we need to increase domestic supply, increase exploration, alternative energy sources and conservation. However, one near-term solution to the problem is for government to investigate and rein in oil speculators.
What is the Commodities Market? – Commodities are raw materials purchased by manufacturers of finished products such as food manufacturers, oil refiners or builders. Businesses that are highly dependent on oil – refineries, heating oil dealers, airlines and trucking companies among others – lessen their risk of significant price fluctuations by purchasing future delivery contracts at predetermined prices in what is known as the commodities or futures markets. The two largest U.S. commodities markets or futures exchanges are the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the New York Mercantile Exchange, where people trade standardized futures contracts; that is, a contract to buy specific quantities of a commodity at a specified price with delivery set at a specified time in the future.
What is the Problem with Oil? – There is a significant disconnect between the paper market for oil (speculators) and the physical market for oil (consumers). In recent years, speculators have taken advantage of actual consumers of oil by bidding up the price for futures contracts. If a speculator purchases a contract for delivery of oil at a high price six or 12 months in the future but has no intention of actually taking delivery of the oil in that contract, then a physical customer who needs that oil – to deliver home heating oil, to operate trucks or airplanes, or even to process in a refinery – will be forced to pay the higher price in order to obtain the oil that is needed.
How Do They Get Away with That? – Increasingly, sophisticated institutional investors have managed to manipulate the rules and regulations governing commodities transactions through a series of exemptions and waivers, including the so-called “Enron loophole,” low margin requirements and the dodging of U.S. public disclosure requirements. These complex arrangements have a similar impact: They put people engaged in oil-related businesses at a disadvantage with those who gamble relatively small sums that the price of oil will increase out of proportion to marketplace demands. If that happens, as it has regularly over the past few years, those who need oil for their businesses pay a premium, which is passed on to you – the consumer.
What Can Government Do Now? – In the near term, Congress needs to address the impact of unchecked speculation in the commodities market.
Commodities trading is overseen by a small, but very powerful government agency known as the Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) . Congress can require the CFTC to implement a host of controls such as imposing limits on the quantity of commodities contracts speculators may purchase, closing the loopholes that allow speculators to trade exempt from any government oversight or regulation, and requiring reporting by those who are engaging in speculation.
Experts say that closing regulatory loopholes in the trading of commodity futures will result in a significant reduction in fuel prices.
What’s Next? – Congress is expected to debate some of these issues in the next few weeks and it is urgent that they hear your voice. To facilitate public participation in the debate over speculators, we have launched a broad-based coalition, S.O.S. NOW, that provides a wide array of information on speculation and its impact on the price we all pay for oil. S.O.S. NOW stands for Stop Oil Speculation Now, and we urge you to go to the Web site www.stopoilspeculationnow.com and send a message to
Congress about oil speculation.
Air Transport Association.
To search the Congressional Record for the energy stories that have already been submitted, please go to the Congressional Record search link. Select Crapo, Mike (R-ID) in the dropdown menu, and check Senate under Section of Congressional Record. Under the date, enter 06/18/2008 to the present date. Click the search button at the bottom of the screen. All of the submissions will be retrieved; they are all titled IDAHOANS SPEAK OUT ON HIGH ENERGY PRICES.
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