Why does governemt interfere with Natural Gas and Electricity pricing? Why can't those companies raise their prices at will?
2007-05-24 07:43:33 · 15 answers · asked by samanthakhz 2 in Politics & Government ➔ Other - Politics & Government
Gasoline is a "public works" i think i just proved that undeliable fact.
2007-05-24 07:53:03 · update #1
EVERY sing product that a Tatoo Artis uses is trucked from where it is manufactured to where it is used. ((why would a businesman not understand this undeniable fact?)) hmmmm...
2007-05-24 08:14:56 · update #2
there is no such product or service. Gasoline IS a Utility.
2007-05-24 07:55:15 · answer #1 · answered by crispie 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Now that you mention it, I would have to say NO.
Even the "Electricity & Natural Gas" charges that we receive include something for gasoline and/or diesel fuels because the companies pass on all the costs that they pay through to the customers. They have trucks and other vehicles to make repairs ect.
If you really look in to the costs of anything you will not be able to get past wages. The wages companies pay have to be sufficient in order for that employee to be able to buy gasoline for whatever method of transportation that they use to get to work. When the prices of gas go up they have less expendable income and want a raise.
Every product on a store shelf has been shipped there in some manner. I haven't seen any horse drawn wagons for quite a while.
Every item that arrives by mail ends up on trucks at some point.
Even to get the free downloads you have had to use gasoline to transport your computer which includes at least wages and/or plastics which contain gasoline that was used in the process of making the plastic.
The free downloads aren't really free. You are using electricity that I have already shown above contain small amounts of gasoline in the costs. You have spent money to buy the device that you are using to download the "free" stuff, you pay a service fee in order to access the "free" downloads.
2007-05-24 08:17:32 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
Natural Gas and electricity in the US are mostly set up as monopolies. That is, you can't buy your electricity from the tower across the street for 10 cents less if you're being overcharged by your suplier. Gasoline is still sold competatively. That's why the former is more tightly regulated than the latter.
There are a number of reasons gas is so expensive, but it's all supply and demand. Supply of crude oil is uncertain, so speculators bet that the price will go up, by buying delivery contracts, this reduces the supply to non-speculators, so the price is driven up in the short term. Further, oil refiners fear interruption in supply, so they want to hold larger resreves, again, this drives up the price. Expanding economies are also demaning more oil each year than the year before, so demand is increasing faster than supply, also driving the price up. Then, once the overpriced crude makes it to America, it has to be refined into gasoline - there are only a handful of refineries in America, because a new one hasn't been built in over 30 years do to draconian environmental regulation and NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) syndrome. Thus, refinery capacity is limitted, even if enough oil is available, and supply can not rise as fast as demand - only when the price rises high enough that importing refined gasoline from other countries becomes profitable does it stabilize (at the current, high prices).
2007-05-24 07:53:11 · answer #3 · answered by B.Kevorkian 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No. There is not one thing that is immune to the cost of transportation. Some might argue that you can grow your own vegatable garden, but if you haven't already been doing that, even the seeds at your local store arrived by truck. Your other question is a bit thornier. They can raise their rates to some extent, however in a lot of states those rate increases are subject to approval by a state board or commission. Do you remember a few years back, when California was in a real mess with their electrical power? It was the shoddy legislating of that states capital that brought that on.
2007-05-24 08:01:44 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
<<
Because by the nature of power and natural gas companies they have a monopoly on the service/material they provide. You cannot shop around for the power/gas company with the best rates therefore forcing power/gas providers to be competitive.
One power/gas company installed and owns the infrastructure that delivers their product. It is impractical for another company to build another entirely separate system to each home and business to compete with the existing power/gas company.
Therefore government oversight is necessary because the market cannot regulate the rates through competition.
2007-05-24 07:59:41 · answer #5 · answered by floatingbloatedcorpse 4 · 2⤊ 0⤋
there's a scarcity of "eco-friendly" diesel because of the fact of refinery capacities. eco-friendly diesel has much less sulfur ppm, demands extra refining, and sooner or later 2007 passenger vehicles the ppm might desire to be an excellent decrease selection. Europe enables farmers to apply the old diesel which we could unauthorized vehicles use it, lowering call for.
2016-11-05 06:28:51 · answer #6 · answered by ? 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There is something I do not understand in the US... the way the so called "free market" works.
Why aren´t all utilities privatized ? The same for postal service ?
Subsidies should only be used to accelerate the development and introduction on the market of new technologies.
2007-05-24 07:47:11 · answer #7 · answered by NLBNLB 6 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Natural gas and electricity are public works, gasoline is not.
2007-05-24 07:46:55 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well, IMO, the government has no business regulating electricity or natural gas or cable or insurance and should therefore keep it's paws off other industries.
But I'm one of those wierdos who think Constitutions should mean something.
2007-05-24 07:55:51 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
"Music Downloads" and everything compuerized has the computers TRUCKED by gasoline powered trucks, gas prices affect downloads because you have to purchase a computer that was transported to a store. (that was a dumb answer, dude)
2007-05-24 08:05:35 · answer #10 · answered by another detroit bassist 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
music downloads or anything delivered electronically.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
That's low - being called "dumb" by a bass player...
I already have my computer dude. how about pay-per-view movies? is that a dumb answer too?
btw...
Q: What do you call someone who hangs around with musicians?
A: A Bass Player.
Q: Why are there bass solos?
A: So the audience has something to talk over.
Q. How do you get a bass player off your doorstep?
A. Pay for the pizza.
Q. What do you call a bass player with a beeper?
A. An optimist
2007-05-24 07:53:19 · answer #11 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 1⤋