US gas, power prices to remain high, Senate panel told

Washington (Platts)--30Jan2001

Natural gas and electric prices will remain high and volatile in parts of the US over the next several years, "casting a large shadow" over economic growth, Peter Fox-Penner, a principal with The Brattle Group and a former Principal Deputy Secretary of Energy, told a Senate committee Tuesday. But Fox-Penner urged the Senate Budget Committee not to overreact to the situation. "While it is important to treat the economic and social pain over the next several years, it is not appropriate to conclude that the nation is permanently short on energy, nor that a crash program of expanded supply or relaxed environmental rules is warranted," he testified. Fox-Penner told the Senate panel that high prices are already causing electricity generators, gas pipeline companies, and oil and gas producers to respond as expected, with increased investments and expanded production. He said the Budget Committee and federal government can best help by taking the following steps: increasing funding for low-income energy assistance over the next few years; continuing government investment in energy efficiency and energy supply research and development; and working to remove impediments that prevent the market from addressing the imbalance in supply and demand.

http://www.platts.com/stories/gas3.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), January 31, 2001