Spire Gas Service has filed a rate increase request with the Missouri Public Service Commission. They want about 15% more a month from their customers, despite the fact that natural gas is a commodity that has been hitting historic lows in recent years. Natural gas is lower now than it was 20 years ago, is your bill lower? Heck no.
I am sure Spire would be quick to point out that they are a distribution company more than a seller of natural gas, but you and I know better. They’ve got sponsorships and offices and executive salaries to pay beyond getting some natural gas to your house, so you’re most likely going to be paying more soon, and we will all just learn to like it.
Imagine what would happen if the actual gas they delivered to us was costing more. We’d be taking second mortgages at 8% to pay our gas bills.
In case you thought Spire wastes money, think again my cynical friends. They spend some “partnership” money on the University of Missouri basketball team where they promote energy saving tips and highlight the benefits of natural gas for home heating, cooking, and drying.
Nothing gets me in the mood to burn some natural gas like a good college hoops game. I’m constantly getting some friends together to watch some hoops and talk natural gas dryers.
They trotted out basketball players Josh Gray and Tamar Bates in a commercial last year with some energy saving tips. I’ve always said that if you want to save on your energy bill, look to your nearest 21-year-old college basketball player, obviously they have the answers.
Josh and Tamar recommended changing your furnace filter and lowering the temperature on your water heater. They also threw in the tip to move clutter away from your heating vents. You thought Spire wasn’t working for you and there they are paying your money to get you this kind of information. Where else would you find this but through a Mizzou basketball sponsorship?
In another lifetime, I was the city administrator for the City of Plattsburg, which operated its own natural gas system. Natural gas does not smell, a chemical called mercaptan is added to the gas to give it the raw egg smell. We switched out a mercaptan feeding type system and in an effort to get rid of the old tank, we decided to bury it on some city property near Plattsburg. The problem with that thought process was that we did not know the backhoe operator might accidentally hit the tank and put a hole in it. In retrospect, that was a grave error in thought.
We had gas leak reports all the way into Elwood, Kan. (which sometimes smells like rotten eggs anyway) and throughout St. Joseph, Plattsburg, Gower, etc.
Apparently, the EPA frowns on this method of disposal as we spent the next few months explaining that to them.
Knowing what I know now, I’d have sponsored the Mizzou Basketball team to make a couple of public service announcements to get us out of that mess. Live and learn.
(Guy Speckman can be reached waiting for college basketball season before deciding what kind of dryer to buy)
