Energy prices have doubled since the election. Here's why they will keep going up...
Oh, and THIS: Today we launched the Center for Energy & Environmental Analysis!
Exciting news for moi - As reported by Politico, I launched the Center for Energy & Environment Analysis (CEEA) today with an amazing team of experts - Amy Vernon Jones, Daniel Richter, Eric de Place, and John Kostyack - whom I have relied on for years for their energy and environmental experience and insights. CEEA will shine a light on important energy and environmental trends that are shaping our future. Our goal is to bridge the gap between what experts know about emerging trends and what the people who shape energy and environmental policy need to know.
Our publications are open access and freely shareable! I may cross-reference some of CEEA’s material here to the Symons Says Substack, but not everything, so please ….
…Visit CEEA’s website and sign up for updates here: https://ceea.us
Drill More, Pay More
CEEA’s first report warns that “drill more, pay more,” has become America’s new energy reality, and prices will only get worse under Trump’s energy agenda. Despite record levels of US natural gas production in the first quarter of 2025, US natural gas prices increased by 93% compared to the same period last year. Even with recent price declines sparked by fears of a tariff-driven economic slowdown, US natural gas wholesale prices remain (as of today, April 17) twice as high as they were on election day.
Rising natural gas prices are a triple-cost blow to US consumers, who will pay higher natural gas bills, higher electricity bills, and higher cost of goods from US manufacturers. American families have not yet seen these higher energy prices fully trickle down to their natural gas and electricity bills, but they will pay more in the end and politicians may have a lot of explaining to do next fall.
Actions taken by the Trump administration to increase natural gas exports, increase natural gas consumption, and limit renewable energy and energy efficiency exports are likely to further increase energy prices and price volatility for US industry and consumers.
By rushing to export more and more natural gas, energy companies will gain more control over our lives and dominate American consumers. It’s like we are intentionally trying to replicate the global oil markets that have hurt Americans at the pump for so long.
US manufacturers and farmers will be hit hard
Higher wholesale natural gas prices will increase energy bills for consumers, including US industry and farmers (who will see the costs of fertilizers climb). According to US EIA, natural gas prices paid by industry and businesses in Texas and Louisiana could double by 2026.
For the first time in history, the total volume of US natural gas exports (LNG and pipeline) is expected in 2025 to exceed the total amount of natural gas consumed by the entire US industrial sector, which includes all US manufacturing, agriculture, energy extraction, and construction.