Natural Gas Prices
These charts show how the natural gas futures contracts have traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX). Natural gas and other commodity futures prices can be found at www.nymex.com, www.cme.com, www.futuresource.com and www.ino.com.



This short-term strip (Nov-Jan) is trading at $6.45/MMBtu; that is less than half of where it was trading on July 4th, and we are now at a 52-week low. The world-wide economic slowdown and credit crunch have trumped two damaging hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. Speculators that drove prices up to unsustainable levels are now panic-selling.



Like the shorter term strip, the 12-Month strip (Nov-Oct) of natural gas has given back all of its 2008 increase and is now trading at $6.78/MMBtu. Since we are now at a 52-week low, this represents an excellent buying opportunity. According to the latest forecast from the Department of Energy, spot market prices at the Henry Hub are predicted to average $8.17/Mcf in 2009.

Electric Customer Switching Statistics
The charts below demonstrate what percentage of electrical load (in MegaWatts) has been switched away from the regulated local utilities to the competing marketers. For more information, visit the website listed for each state.



Washington D.C.’s electric market is active with almost 40% of the load served by deregulated marketers. Customers remaining on PEPCO’s supply can choose between a Standard Offer Service (SOS) or a Market Price Service (MPS) rate structure. Customer switching is greatly influenced by PEPCO’s timing of the solicitations that establish the SOS rate. www.worldenergy.com



New Jersey is an active market with approximately 85% of the electric load served by deregulated marketers. Auctions are held each February to secure supplies and to price two types of Basic Generation Service (BGS) for accounts not choosing a supplier: a Fixed Price service (BGS-FP) and an hourly, market-based Commercial and Industrial Energy Pricing service (BGS-CIEP). Accounts with peak demand greater than 750 kW have the best opportunity to save. www.worldenergy.com