Some business owners have so much money that they don’t worry about trying to lower overhead expense.  So if your name is Bezos, Musk, Zuckerberg, Schmidt or Buffett quit reading now and go back to working on your next idea or company to take over.  These guys already have taken advantage of every overhead cost savings available.  For the rest of business owners there might be savings that you are not collecting in your energy purchasing.

Business owners in states where the energy supply is deregulated fight through a deluge of phone calls from energy sellers who are looking to make a fortune in this new field of sales.  We are all tired of people trying to sell us something.  That should not stop you from saving money.  There are 5 often stated crippling beliefs that get in the way of maximizing the value of your energy purchase.  Continue reading →

Midwest electricity cost, the actual energy part, has been falling for a few years.  This has been partially offset by the delivery costs going up.  Now the guru’s are warning that maybe there is a turning point and energy costs will go up.

Electric energy cost is driven by the cost of generation and while there is a lot of solar and wind the bulk of electricity comes from coal, nuclear and natural gas-fired generation.  In the Midwest, gas-fired plants were built because of the plentiful Marsalis and Utica gas fields.  After these fields were tapped we knew that gas was abundant but the pipelines were not available to take the resource out of the area.  Prices fell and producers shut wells in.  We witnessed the decline of electric and gas prices. Continue reading →