Gasoline isn't the only expensive gas

Hey, okay. So, unless you've been in a coma for the past few years, you've probably noticed your gas bill has been going up. And no, I'm not talking about gasoline prices, although those have also been going up. I'm talking about like your gas stove and your gas boiler, that kind of thing. That bill has been going up, and the reason it's been going up really sucks. See, gas utilities are what are called government-regulated monopolies. So, they're not technically allowed to charge you whatever the they want for their services. They can only earn what's called a reasonable return. Unfortunately, the guys who get to determine what reasonable return is are these guys. — I'm not leaving. — AND WOULDN'T YOU KNOW IT, GAS utilities get to earn that reasonable return on the infrastructure they build. And if you're playing along at home, you guessed it right, they love building a ton of infrastructure. In the state of New York, gas utilities spent a billion dollars replacing pipes. And my friend, that's going to be a lot of reasonable return. — And let me tell you something. — And as much as I personally don't like spending my hard-earned money to reinforce fossil fuel infrastructure, the state of New York absolutely hates it. In fact, they passed a mandate to decarbonize by 2050, which means in a little over 20 years, we have to stop using basically all of this. And yet, year after year, gas utilities are replacing pipes and upgrading the infrastructure and showing no signs of stopping. It's kind of like if someone asked to spend a night on your couch, but then they bring 11 bags. Kind of seems like they're not planning on going anywhere. So, if you look at your gas bill and you realize it's pretty unaffordable, then you see a bunch of new gas infrastructure going in, just remember that those costs are being passed on directly to you, the consumer. Kind of seems like a conflict of interest to me. That's the news, back to you in the studio.