City Grantville Warns of Artificially High Gas Prices

The City of Grantville:  Warns of Artificially High Gas Prices

The welcome chill of autumn will unfortunately usher higher than normal natural gas prices this home heating season, according to the City of Grantville, your Natural Gas provider. Consumers have enjoyed very low and stable natural gas prices over the last several years, but in recent months prices have risen dramatically due to several factors – some of which can be remedied with consumers’ help.

Today our nation is facing an increased demand for electricity as power generators move away from coal to clean-burning natural gas to lower emissions. In addition, electric power generators are using natural gas to support currently less reliable wind and solar electric generation. This added demand for natural gas is taxing the available natural gas supplies.

Additionally, the natural gas industry is facing increased demand for liquefied natural gas (LNG) in European and Asian markets. Gas prices in international markets are even higher than here in the U.S., which is prompting natural gas producers to export natural gas to these markets.

Meanwhile tighter Federal regulations and policies are restricting access to abundant, domestic natural gas reserves. For example, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project designed to bring natural gas to the Southeast was canceled due to policies and regulations opposing this necessary infrastructure. The Mountain Valley Pipeline project, which began over 7 years ago and is designed to bring natural gas to

West Virginia and Virginia, continues to be stalled due to regulatory legal battles. Federal policies continue to create obstacles for producers and stalling the development of projects like these and creating unneeded shortages in natural gas supplies and adversely impacting our energy affordability, security, and energy reliability.

“There is no reason natural gas prices should be inflated to their current levels. We want to encourage our customers to reach out to their State and U.S. Representatives to express concern over these policies

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Artificially High Gas Prices

News Release

October 3, 2022

Page 2

that limit natural gas production, increase prices, and harm American households,” said the Director of Public Works and Utilities. “The facts are clear. This country has well over 100 years of natural gas supply currently available with the potential for more beyond these estimates. We have a safe and reliable network of over two and a half million miles of pipeline to deliver natural gas where it's needed every day, and we’ve been providing the most affordable energy to households for decades, but these policies are severely restricting the industry from continuing to serve our customers.”

According to the Department of Energy (DOE), natural gas is used to heat more than half of all US households, as well as providing affordable energy for water heating and cooking. In addition to these higher gas prices impacting consumers directly, the increased use of natural gas to generate a large portion of our nation’s electricity means electricity rates are also headed for unprecedented high levels.

Concerned consumers can reach out to their State and Federal representatives. To learn who your State legislators are visit: https://www.legis.ga.gov/find-my-legislator  To learn who your Federal congressional delegation is visit: https://www.legis.ga.gov/find-my-legislator