Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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Well news was just saying we can expect prices on food and gas to rise. I filled my gas tank today and it was $2.33/gal.

What are y’all seeing in your area. Food prices up. Gas prices riding. It is almost like a national hurricane effect.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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Local gas is right at $2.50 a gallon down here. I just filled my car on February 21st.

But I only have to buy gas every few months; for example in the last half of 2020 I bought gas on August 27th and then again on October 6th and then on December 15th.

Fortunately we live in Texas so we have cheap gas and cheap beef.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
jim

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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Your TX prices now are what we were paying last spring, but they've been creeping up. Lowest in my area is $3.41, your cold snap drove up oil prices. Food prices have been going up in my area, basically packaged and canned goods that I can see, vegetables, fruits that are locally grown and what we import from Mexico not so much.
"Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts." - Daniel Patrick Moynihan

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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We're heading into refinery turn around season, so its to be expected prices are going to go up. But even after turn around is over, expect prices to remain up or even climb a bit higher. As the vaccine works its magic, and the virus numbers start tumbling, fuel demand is going to see a sharp rise, and prices will follow that demand.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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Gas prices almost doubled here in the past year after the March 2020 low. Then they dropped back down under $3/gal just recently. I expect the prices to rise again because that's what they do now.

It used to be a steady price for years, but prices fluctuate a lot since Katrina.
It is an unfortunate human failing that a full pocketbook often groans more loudly than an empty stomach.

- Franklin D. Roosevelt

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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featureless wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:30 pm
senorgrand wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:54 pm If gas goes up 10%, I'll be paying close to $4 a gallon. Luckily, my first EV gets here this weekend.
Welcome to the club. You'll love driving past gas stations.
Yep - I don't drive around much except for weekly grocery trips, but was shocked to see gas at $2.99 today. My car is on the charger as I type this.
If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there - George Harrison
Don't go where the road don't go - Ringo Starr

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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I drove both my F150 and '87 Blazer less than 1000 miles total between the two in 2020. F150 filled twice with carry over from 2019 and Blazer once. Filled F150 last week at $2.219 at Costco. Blazer has a new home, as I gave it to SIL to refurb as my Big Bend days are over and Blazer rotting away in driveway. Thought my auto insurance would have a big drop - I'm paying $13 less for the F150 vs both vehicles, so if this year the same insurance alone will be about a $1.00 per mile + gas and upkeep. Kinda expensive for a vehicle that leaves the garage an average of 4x a month, if that, for store or Doc visits. There may be a Uber in my future, but hesitate due to inconvenience. I may just wait til my daughter takes my keys or I decide it's time to give them to her - not there YET! Thankfully. Relying on others for things I use to be able to do is a hard concept to accept.

With border semi back open, one would think that produce would begin to drop in cost. I expect we'll not see a drop in price.
"Being Republican is more than a difference of opinion - it's a character flaw." "COVID can fix STUPID!"
The greatest, most aggrieved mistake EVER made in USA was electing DJT as POTUS.

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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Wino wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 8:56 am I drove both my F150 and '87 Blazer less than 1000 miles total between the two in 2020. F150 filled twice with carry over from 2019 and Blazer once. Filled F150 last week at $2.219 at Costco. Blazer has a new home, as I gave it to SIL to refurb as my Big Bend days are over and Blazer rotting away in driveway. Thought my auto insurance would have a big drop - I'm paying $13 less for the F150 vs both vehicles, so if this year the same insurance alone will be about a $1.00 per mile + gas and upkeep. Kinda expensive for a vehicle that leaves the garage an average of 4x a month, if that, for store or Doc visits. There may be a Uber in my future, but hesitate due to inconvenience. I may just wait til my daughter takes my keys or I decide it's time to give them to her - not there YET! Thankfully. Relying on others for things I use to be able to do is a hard concept to accept.

With border semi back open, one would think that produce would begin to drop in cost. I expect we'll not see a drop in price.
Indeed, contemplating giving up self reliance is tough. Hang in there.
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"Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated!" Loquacious of many. Texas Chapter Chief Cat Herder.

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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Aztex999 wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 12:57 am
featureless wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:30 pm
senorgrand wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:54 pm If gas goes up 10%, I'll be paying close to $4 a gallon. Luckily, my first EV gets here this weekend.
Welcome to the club. You'll love driving past gas stations.
Yep - I don't drive around much except for weekly grocery trips, but was shocked to see gas at $2.99 today. My car is on the charger as I type this.
Whatcha scoot, whilst smugly not emitting CO2?

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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I generally have to buy gas three or four times a year. My car is almost six years old now, long paid for and still has less than 8000 miles on the odometer. Since I do live in an area subject to hurricanes and evacuation orders I consider it just part of preparation. But I've been seriously considering adding an electric bike.
To be vintage it must be older than me!
The next gun I buy will be the next to last gun I ever buy. PROMISE!
jim

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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K9s wrote: Sat Mar 06, 2021 2:47 am Gas prices almost doubled here in the past year after the March 2020 low. Then they dropped back down under $3/gal just recently. I expect the prices to rise again because that's what they do now.

It used to be a steady price for years, but prices fluctuate a lot since Katrina.
There's actually a logical reason for that... The middle east.

Before Katrina (actually the tipping point was mid 2006), gasoline use in the middle east had been on the increase for nearly 20 years as they expand their middle class. Around mid 2006 the middle east became a big enough part of the world gas (gas, not oil) consumers that their spending habits started to affect the overall world market. When you add the ME up with China, now you have a slate of consumers nearly the size of the US. Why am I telling you this?

Prior to 2006, whenever world oil prices got really crazy, US drivers would cut back their driving, demand would fall, and prices would stabilize. In 2006, the US cut back, but world demand didn't change; why?

It didn't change because China and the ME all heavily subsidize public gas prices. When the governments didn't raise prices, their gas purchasing habits didn't change, and that offset the purchasing changes that were made by US consumers. So, even with a big cut back in purchasing from the US, for the first time it had insufficient affect on the overall world market that nothing changed.

Now that we live in the "new" oil market, there's much more volatility and the market will remain volatile for the foreseeable future.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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We could see an even higher rise in these prices if the Texas government requires the oil and gas industry to winterize their facilities.
Oil and gas interests left to “self-regulate” in aftermath of winter storm as Texas politicians pile on to ERCOT

After being battered by withering criticism of its management of the power grid during last month’s winter storm, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas saw several of its board members resign and fired its CEO. The chair of the Public Utility Commission, which oversees the grid operator, was forced to resign.

The political fallout from the long-lasting Texas power outages have hit both entities hard after Gov. Greg Abbott blamed ERCOT’s leadership for the near-collapse of the electric grid and made its reform a legislative priority, and state lawmakers hammered the PUC for what they called a failure of oversight.

Yet politically powerful natural gas companies, along with their regulators, appear so far to have escaped the wrath of the governor and the Legislature.

From the natural gas wellheads in West Texas to the power plants that burn gas to generate electricity to the companies that deliver power to Texans, multiple systems failed during the storm and made what should have been a mild inconvenience into a statewide crisis, executives, regulators, lawmakers and experts said.

At the height of the crisis, nearly half the grid’s total power generation capacity was offline as weather conditions caused failures in every type of power source: natural gas, coal, wind and nuclear.

“The entire energy sector failed Texas,” Mauricio Gutierrez, CEO of NRG Energy Inc., a large Houston-based power generation company, said solemnly during his testimony last week to Texas lawmakers. “We must do better.”

More than 25,000 megawatts of natural gas generation, enough to power 5 million Texas homes, went down, along with around 17,000 megawatts of wind generation, according to ERCOT. Natural gas is the largest source of generation on Texas’ grid, especially during the winter. This season, the Texas grid was expected to rely on “thermal sources,” which are mostly natural gas, for at least 80% of its power when demand is high, according to ERCOT’s winter forecast.

Yet as lawmakers grilled agency heads and demanded accountability — and resignations — during two days of hearings last week, leaders of the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates natural gas production and transportation in Texas, were not asked to resign. Lawmakers spent relatively little time questioning natural gas production and transportation executives.

And few of the bills they filed in the aftermath of the outages seek to reform problems that the storm exposed in the way natural gas is produced, delivered and used to make power. The plunging temperatures froze machinery, created icy conditions that prevented crews from reaching trouble spots, and caused power outages that knocked out facilities like compressing stations that help deliver gas to power plants.

“There was a lot of shrugging and finger pointing to [electricity generators],” said Adrian Shelley, director of Public Citizen, a Texas consumer advocacy group. “There’s not a clear fall guy on the oil and gas fuel side of things, in the way that ERCOT is taking the brunt of the responsibility on the transmission side. … I don’t think that’s entirely justified.”

Energy executives and industry representatives testified last week that a lack of winterization throughout the natural gas supply chain, and a failure to ensure that power kept flowing to key parts of that chain when fuel was desperately needed, were key reasons that millions of Texans lost power for days in bitter cold.

“If we don’t have a seamless gas and electric power system,” said Curtis Morgan, CEO of Vistra Energy, an Irving-based power generation company, “what happened last week will happen again.”

Oil and gas companies are big political donors

In Texas, the oil and gas industry’s political influence — and its deep pockets — are legendary.

A Texas Tribune analysis of political donations shows that Abbott, who was quick to blame renewable energy for the blackouts last month, received at least $26.9 million from the oil and gas industry in the last two decades, more than 10 times what he received from the electric power sector, which gave at least $2.6 million to the governor over the same period.

Oil and gas interests have given Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick at least $5.1 million since 2009, while the electric power sector has given him at least $708,000.

During and after the power outages, as elected officials hammered ERCOT, the PUC and the renewable power industry, the Railroad Commission and industry representatives mounted a public defense of the oil and gas industry.

Christi Craddick, chair of the Texas Railroad Commission, praised natural gas for its ability to deliver fuel to homes with gas-powered stoves, fireplaces and furnaces during the storm — but largely steered clear of the failures to deliver fuel to natural gas-fueled power plants — during her testimony to lawmakers last week.

And during an emergency agency meeting Feb. 17 — as millions of Texans remained without power or heat — Railroad Commissioner Wayne Christian called the disaster a “perfect storm” and said “there’s no single reason we’re in this mess,” but pointed toward renewable energy sources like wind and solar as the bigger problem, despite ERCOT data that showed the contrary.

“The takeaway from this storm should not be the future of fossil fuels, but the dangers of subsidizing intermittent, unreliable energy,” Christian said.

Between Feb. 13 and Feb. 17, IHS Markit estimated that the state’s natural gas production fell by nearly half due to frigid temperatures and power outages. ERCOT estimates that at least 9,000 megawatts of power outages were caused by gas supply issues, enough to power 1.8 million Texas homes.

The president of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, Todd Staples, also testified at last week’s legislative committee hearings and listed several reasons why natural gas production declined during the storm, starting with the loss of power to oilfields and ending by acknowledging the weather-related mechanical issues that “may have been avoidable or might not have been avoidable.”

He told lawmakers the industry is still assessing the causes.

During the House committee hearing, lawmakers asked Staples and natural gas pipeline companies to more aggressively prepare for emergencies.

State Reps. Charlie Geren, R-Fort Worth, and Todd Hunter, R-Corpus Christi, both complained that natural gas producers hadn’t been adequately informed that they need to apply for designation as “critical” infrastructure to ensure power isn’t cut to facilities necessary to deliver fuel to power plants during an outage. The responsibility to register as critical infrastructure falls to companies, according to Public Utility Commission rules.

“I understand [power plants] can’t produce electricity without your gas,” Geren said. “It’s a big chicken and egg is what it is, but I don’t believe the blame belongs solely on the [natural gas] pipes.”

Geren and others directed industry representatives and executives to “get the word out.” Democrats on the GOP-dominated committee complained that regulators were unlikely to step in and asked industry to make reforms.

“The temperature at the Railroad Commission right now is: ‘We don’t want to mandate weatherization. We don’t want to mandate elaborate emergency plans. … We’re going to let industry self-regulate,’” state Rep. Eddie Lucio III, D-Brownsville, said during a committee hearing last week as energy executives and industry representatives were testifying.

“If you’re going to self-regulate, at least given the current administration … my message to you is: Take the emergency planning seriously,” Lucio said.

Can the Railroad Commission require winterization?

While Abbott called for winterization of power plants in the aftermath of the storm, some experts said he didn’t go far enough and ignored natural gas infrastructure.

“The power plants certainly failed us and should be winterized, but the natural gas supply system also failed us and should be winterized,” Michael Webber, an energy resources professor at the University of Texas at Austin, told the Tribune on Feb. 19.

“To say that the power plants need to be winterized, but not to say that the natural gas supply should be, is a way of pointing the blame to the power sector and not the gas sector,” he said. “That’s an important absence.”

An Abbott spokesperson said the governor is treating all power sources equally as he pushes for reform.

“Power generation from all sources buckled under the harsh, freezing winter weather, including natural gas, coal, nuclear, wind and solar,” Renae Eze said in a written statement. “Each of these power sources failed to fully produce because of inadequate safeguards. That is why the Governor has made it a Legislative priority to mandate and fund the winterization of Texas power infrastructure.”

During another winter storm a decade ago, winterization was recommended for both power plants and natural gas supply; during that storm, natural gas supply shortages were a much smaller part of the problem than during last month’s storm. The Legislature did not mandate winterization, and the power and gas industries have largely done upgrades voluntarily over the past 10 years.

Staples, in a statement provided to the Tribune, said the oil and natural gas industry is conducting a “top to bottom review” to determine the issues confronted during the storm and what improvements can be made. He said many companies are already sufficiently winterized and that power outages were a more significant problem.

“TXOGA is committed to developing meaningful policy suggestions to be fully responsive to the legislature,” Staples wrote. “We look forward to supporting the legislature, Governor, Lt. Governor and Speaker in their efforts to pass comprehensive reform that brings accountability this session.”

Craddick agreed that power outages to oilfields were the main cause of the dwindling supply of natural gas during the storm — not the industry’s failures to prepare for extremely cold weather.

“The oilfield simply cannot run without power, making electricity the best winterization tool,” Craddick said.

The Railroad Commission’s rules do not “expressly require winterization” of the oil and gas facilities it regulates, said agency spokesperson R. J. DeSilva.

John Hays, a longtime Texas oil and gas lawyer who has observed the Railroad Commission for decades, said that while the agency does not have a rule on its books to require winterization, it likely has the legal jurisdiction to make those rules because the commission has “very broad” authority over oil and gas production and safety.

During last week’s legislative hearings, Craddick said the agency is “continuing to look at winterization and weatherization,” without offering specifics. Later, responding to a question from state Sen. José Menéndez, D-San Antonio, on whether the agency requires natural gas wellheads to be winterized, Craddick answered no and said, “We’ll continue to work with companies to see what is realistic to do in Texas.”

Consumer advocates said the agency could have — and should have — acted sooner to make sure natural gas infrastructure could withstand another winter storm. They cited a federal report that pointed to winterization of the natural gas supply as an area that should be addressed to help prevent power outages in Texas after the 2011 storm.

“These reports came out in 2011, and that was the time for the RRC to say, ‘We’re going to require this [winterization],’” said Virginia Palacios, executive director of Commission Shift, a new nonprofit organization in Texas focused on environmental and consumer issues at the Railroad Commission.

“They worked within their capability [during the storm],” she said, but “changes should have taken place 10 years ago.”
https://www.texastribune.org/2021/03/05 ... ommission/

Don't expect the state to require and changes in oil or gas industries. You don't shoot the cash cow.
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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highdesert wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 10:56 am I don't go below a quarter of a tank. I live in a rural area and if the main highway is closed, it takes hours on back roads to get to metro areas. There have been a number of fires since I've lived here that have closed the main highway.
Very smart. We don't go below half a tank these days. With all the fires, we've witnessed plenty of gas lines. Don't want to be caught up in that game when there's better use of time elsewhere. Plus, we never know when "the big one" will arrive.

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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A concern I have with the EV car is what happens when we have a weather situation like the Big Freeze or if you live on the coast a Katrina where your electricity is out for an extended period and you don't have an alternate source to charge the vehicle. What do you do?
Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored.-Huxley
"We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." ~ Louis Brandeis,

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:52 am A concern I have with the EV car is what happens when we have a weather situation like the Big Freeze or if you live on the coast a Katrina where your electricity is out for an extended period and you don't have an alternate source to charge the vehicle. What do you do?
You fret. :) I still have an ICE car, so I have options. But that isn't a possibility for all.

Before long, I hope to have solar sufficient to charge my EV in a day or two.

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:52 am A concern I have with the EV car is what happens when we have a weather situation like the Big Freeze or if you live on the coast a Katrina where your electricity is out for an extended period and you don't have an alternate source to charge the vehicle. What do you do?
One of the reasons EV's are "not there yet"... There are still some holes in their game...but that's going away.

Unless you live in a highly urbanized area an EV is hard to make sense as your one and only vehicle. Now as a second vehicle, there's nothing I'd rather own. And at some point, all the issues that make the EV's not perfect for everyone are being worked on every day. In 10 years time, we'll see gas prices start their decline because national demand will be permanently on the downswing.

Once the charging/range issue is put to bed, FF powered vehicles are going to make less and less sense. EV's have a ton of advantages over FF vehicles, and only a couple of inconvenient downsides.
“I think there’s a right-wing conspiracy to promote the idea of a left-wing conspiracy”

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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TrueTexan wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 11:52 am A concern I have with the EV car is what happens when we have a weather situation like the Big Freeze or if you live on the coast a Katrina where your electricity is out for an extended period and you don't have an alternate source to charge the vehicle. What do you do?

Then you wish you had invested in a permanently installed generator hidden within it's own secured protective shed, with hidden and secured underground fuel storage. You'll want enough capacity to run the chilled and frozen food storage, the climate control, and maybe some lights. And...to recharge your EV vehicle and mobile phones.
"In every generation there are those who want to rule well - but they mean to rule. They promise to be good masters - but they mean to be masters." — Daniel Webster

Re: Food and gas prices expected to rise 6 to 9 percent.

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featureless wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 9:35 am
Aztex999 wrote: Mon Mar 08, 2021 12:57 am
featureless wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 4:30 pm
senorgrand wrote: Fri Mar 05, 2021 2:54 pm If gas goes up 10%, I'll be paying close to $4 a gallon. Luckily, my first EV gets here this weekend.
Welcome to the club. You'll love driving past gas stations.
Yep - I don't drive around much except for weekly grocery trips, but was shocked to see gas at $2.99 today. My car is on the charger as I type this.
Whatcha scoot, whilst smugly not emitting CO2?
Two years ago, I bought a 2016 BMW i3 with 10K miles on it for 1/3 the sticker price. They lost value almost immediately because the 2017s had better batteries. Yeah, it only has a range of 80 miles, but my commute was 13 miles each way (for the past year it's been 20 ft.). I also have a 19-yr old SUV that can get me farther if needed. I don't travel much, and where I live, I don't need to worry about cold temperatures more than a few days a year, so it seemed like the perfect car to fit my circumstances. They're not for everyone or every climate, though.
Anyway, last October I filled the tank on the SUV for the first time since covid, for $2/gal. I've still got 3/4 tank left.
If you don't know where you're going, any road will take you there - George Harrison
Don't go where the road don't go - Ringo Starr

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