Name: Why Your Electric Bill Is So High — and Could Keep Climbing | WSJ
Uploaded: 2022-05-11T21:51:34.000Z
Duration: 4 min 42 s
Description: 【看影片學英語】數萬部 YouTube 影片，搭配英漢字典即點即查，輕鬆掌握單字發音與用法，長久累積看電影不必再看字幕。

electricity prices usually follow that same upward trend,

情態副詞

but this year rates could be especially high air conditioning during the summer,

which means people are using more electricity and when there's a higher demand,

New England's largest energy delivery company said the average residential customer could see bills

increased by as much as 25% through the end of June.

So how did the cost of electricity get so high and what can households do to manage the price hike

severe weather events and inflation and at the center of it lies one resource

It's the largest source of generation at this time,

our second but natural gas is still far and away.

The largest source of generation that we have.

Natural gas is used to produce electricity using a three step process.

it's extracted from beneath the Earth's surface and delivered to power plants via pipelines.

Those power plants use natural gas to power turbines that allow for the generation of electricity.

That electricity is then sent through power lines for use at your home in 2011,

the United States surpassed Russia to become the world's largest producer of the commodity.

But extreme weather events of the last year,

heatwaves in the west and a hurricane in Louisiana have challenged domestic supply.

21 was a rough year in terms of disasters that had an effect on natural gas

a big part of the problem was a lot of wellheads were frozen off and therefore the production dropped pretty

precipitously at a time when demand was very high.

Hurricane IDa didn't help either because there was a drop off in production as oil and gas producers

Producers in the US have benefited from strong global demand as they've increased exports to places like

There's not a direct correlation between prices in europe and prices in the US,

but they are related in the sense that For the last several years we have been exporting natural

The us has steadily increased its exports of liquefied natural gas to Europe.

Russia is also one of europe's top suppliers.

concerns about natural gas supply are growing.

The war in Ukraine has made it so that european countries are trying to quickly reduce their reliance on Russian

which creates the need for greater supplies coming from elsewhere.

And we are helping to fill that gap by exporting more abroad,

which drives up prices here by reducing supplies.

The confluence of weather events depleting inventories and higher demand,

has led to increased residential electricity prices across nine regions on a year over year

when a company is incurring higher energy costs,

it was able to recoup that through customers in the form of higher prices,

there is some level of regulatory approval associated with that,

but it's usually not just allowed in any way.

15 states have seen their home electricity rates increased by at least 10% from january of

but some changes can help manage the cost.

A number of utilities offer plans that allow you to pay less for

electricity if you're using an outside of peak hours,

which is typically maybe 4 to 9 p.m. For instance,

take this mock electric bill from Con Edison.

If the customer opted for time of use rates,

they would see separate charges for on peak off peak usage during the summer.

Con Edison's peak rate is approximately 26 cents per kilowatt hour,

which is around double the standard rate,

that customer would only pay about two cents per kilowatt hour.

Peak rates can vary depending on the utility.

Or charge your electric vehicle and may be cheaper to do so around nine am or 10 am,

when you see a surge in demand beyond what a consumer can control the state's public utility Commission

but what they can do is determine the extent to which the utility can pass through those costs to consumers.

Those costs are passed through with no change,

in which gas prices went through the roof.

The utilities commission can help determine whether the utility should pass through all those costs or

whether it should do so over a longer period of time.

So it's not to hit consumers with huge rate increases.

maybe longer term as power companies plan to spend the most money in decades to shift to renewable energy

These spending plans have the potential to further boost rates at a time when natural gas prices are already

And other inflationary pressures have had have made,