Ohio energy users saved more than $40.2 billion from 2006 to 2016, thanks to lower natural gas prices, according to a new report from the Texas-based Consumer Energy Alliance.
Residential users saved almost $15 billion, while commercial and industrial users saved $25.3 billion, Kallanish Energy has learned.
The report looked at how shale drilling in the Marcellus and Utica shales in the Appalachian Basin has provided benefits to Ohio’s energy consumers.
Those savings are linked to increased natural gas and oil production from shale, lower prices and new technologies, the report says.
Prior to the shale boom, prices for natural gas in Ohio peaked at $10.66 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf), but have steadily dropped to just under $4/Mcf, it said.
Gasoline prices have also dropped thanks to shale oil production. In Ohio, those prices peaked at $4.15 per gallon in 2011. AAA says American households have saved an average of $1,100 a year on lower gasoline prices.
Employment in the shale industry increased 7.8%, to 389,000 Ohioans and more than 700 new businesses with $63.9 billion in investments have been set up in Ohio to aid the shale industry, the report says.
“Lower fuel prices have helped Ohioans save over $40 billion in the past decade. This means families have more money to pay for school clothes, grocery bills and perhaps even take a vacation that has been put off for far too long,” said Chris Ventura, CEA’s Midwest executive director, in a statement.
The average Ohioan spent $3,255 on energy in 2016, but the shale boom resulted in $2 billion a year in savings in 2016, according to the report.
The report is available at https://consumerenergyalliance.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/080718_OH-CFAE-Natural-Gas-Report_FINAL.pdf.
