Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - While the war in Iran sent natural gas futures surging in Europe and Asia, prices in the U.S. remained relatively stable.
Unlike oil, which is a global commodity, natural gas production and use is still mostly regional. That is shielding the U.S. from the price spikes much of the world is seeing in the past week.
"In the United States we're just getting the benefit of having more natural gas than we actually need," said President and COO of NOCO Energy Michael Casciano. "We have reserves and are producing a ton of natural gas."
But if all this is true, why have natural gas bills across Western New York skyrocketed this winter?
"In New York, we're about in year six of the CLBPA (Climate Leadership & Community Protection Act) that was passed in 2019," Casciano said. "When we retired these energy producing fossil fuel plants... We lost about 5,200 Megawatts of energy and only replaced it with about 2,200. If you think in pure supply and demand, we've replaced energy at 41%, so there's just not enough of it."
"Therefore prices are continuing to go up in New York State."
Just last week, a memo by the New York State Energy Research & Development Authority analyzing the potential fiscal impact green energy mandates could have on the average Upstate New York homeowner said that by 2031 they could be looking at annual increases in their gas and oil bills by as much as $4,100.
"Back in 2019, there were very ambitious goals," said Gov. Kathy Hochul last week. "But there were so many unforeseen factors."