October 24, 2005

• Presuming no more natural disasters hitting refineries and the like, prices should go down for the winter, according to what I heard post-Katarina. There may be more up-to-date information, and of course, who knows what else could happen this year.
• My understanding concerning hedging was that you should go in expecting to lose signifigant sums of money. The reason you hedge, is to protect yourself from losing LOTS, boatloads of money. That being said, my personal opinion is that you should lock in whatever you can get. My understanding is that natural gas prices are volatile, and locking in will allow you to budget with some certainty. But then, I'm very conservative on these matters.
• I think you have to think like a gas company to figure this out. My reasoning along those lines would be as follows: Somehow they believe they will make additional money by allowing you to lock in the rate. I would speculate that they suspect the rates will go down but that a good number of customers will operate out of fear (lines at the gas stations when there isn't any shortage kind of fear) and will lock in the price at an artifically high rate.. Sort of like being offered a chance at the slot machine by the local casino... they know what the odds are.... might i add IMHO
• yeah, huronbob? maybe that's just what they WANT you to think! it's the ol' double reverse psychology!! on the real tip, how affordable is this locked-in rate, compared to what you've paid the last year or two?
• I too would be suspicious of the company's motives. After all, they're not in the business of NOT making money, and they have whole buildings full of people with computers and calculators figuring all this shit out. Proceed with caution.
• If the company wants you to lock in, then don't.
• Ya'll think exactally like I do--suspicious. If enough people lock in, everything will be cool, and the prices will drop. If they don't lock in, sumpthin's gonna get blowed up, and prices will go out the roof. It's a win-win situation for the gas company. /cynic
• If you do decide to lock in, make extra sure you read the fine print--don't end up locked in for two years by accident or pay an extra monthly fee thereafter once the lock expires. As you can see, I am suspicious too.
• I couldn't find the the thread this is more appropriate for, so I'll put it here: Oil Company Execs Defend Huge Profits Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., made the issue personal, noting that the executives were reaping multimillion-dollar bonuses on top of multimillion-dollar salaries as "working people struggle" to pay for gasoline and face the specter of soaring home heating bills this winter. "Your sacrifice appears to be nothing," Boxer told the executives.
• Yea, gagged over that news story this morning, too, Koko. Ya gotta love the bare-ass brass of those guys. I knew when they dropped gas prices ten cents everyone would forget about what asholes the oil execs were--it's started already.