The question I have about the use of natural gas for power generation is this...How is the use of natural gas for power generation affecting the price of it for home heating & cooking?
Seems to me that I pay an awful lot more for it than I should & all I have is a gas furnace & a water heater. Our electricity is no big bargain either,but that’s a whole other story. Of course,I am basing all this on available spendable income. Naturally,I surely cannot afford to changeover to coal burning in place of what I now use natural gas for. Can anyone answer my question?
The expensive component of energy is transmission. Pipelines and wire. Coal comes by rail then truck.
I'm not too familiar with the mechanisms that drive pricing on the customer side, but the company I work for does provide both natural gas and electricity to their customers. From a power generation perspective, we always divert natural gas to our customers first during periods of high demand. Use of natural gas for power generation at that point is minimized. To meet the demand for electricity, power generation will be diverted to kerosene, nuclear, coal, etc.
If your gas and power are provided by separate entities, perhaps the gas company increases cost because they are supplying to residential customers and power generating facilities simultaneously.
My mother-in-law owns land in PA and receives payments on the natural gas pulled out of the gas wells on her property, but those wells have been capped and untouched for some time now because they have too much natural gas. That could slowly be driving costs back up too, but still not enough on the side of power generation to go back to coal in a big way.