How Low-Cost Natural Gas Benefits Ohio Electricity Consumers

Abundant Low-Cost Natural Gas Allows Consumer Electricity Savings

• The recent discoveries of abundant local U.S. natural gas reserves have made coal-fired power plants non-competitive and immediately obsolete.
• A recent study completed by the University of West Virginia concluded that the local Utica Shale formation has enough natural gas to power our electricity needs for decades to come! The study found:
  • Utica formation has 3,192 TCF of gas.
  • Utica Shale can power every single Ohio power plant for 2,660 years.
  • Read the study highlights.
• The Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia corridor has the lowest U.S. natural gas prices, and will continue to remain low for decades into the future, making Ohio power utilities’ claims that gas costs will outpace coal highly unrealistic.
• Today, Ohio power utilities are lobbying to have ratepayers subsidize these expensive coal plants, which would cost Ohioans an extra and un-necessary $22,300,000,000, assuming current Ohio coal plants receive a subsidy for the next fifteen years.

 

 

• Coal-produced electricity energy is 100% above the cost of gas-fired electricity. As a result, this expensive coal-fired electricity is unable to be sold in the PJM market, as it exceeds the market price. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has conducted an extensive study found here.
• Today, Ohio power utilities are lobbying to have ratepayers subsidize these expensive coal plants, which would cost Ohioans an extra and un-necessary $23,000,000,000, assuming current Ohio coal plants receive a subsidy for the next ten years.

• Coal: $ 2.25/MMBtu, plus Var O+M $ 5.75/MWh
• Gas: $ 2.45/MMBtu, plus Var O+M $ 2.10/MWh
• The 13-state PJM market sets the daily price for electricity energy. Typical values of $25-28/MWh (see PJM Locational Marginal Pricing Map) means utility coal-costs of $34/MWh can’t compete, so coal shuts down, most of the time. See full list of coal plants in Ohio here.

 

Natural Gas-Fired Power Improves Ohio’s Environment

• Electricity produced from natural gas using gas-fired combined cycle technology creates 50% less CO2 and 90% less NOx and SOx emissions than the same amount of electricity made from coal.
• Using natural gas in our stove, home furnace, outdoor grill, electricity, and through industrial uses has already contributed to a dramatic improvement to our air quality.