Month: August 2022

At least 20 million households — or about 1 in 6 American homes — are behind on their power bills as soaring electricity prices spark what is said to be the worst-ever crisis in late utility payments, according to Bloomberg, citing data from the National Energy Assistance Directors Association (Neada).

Neada said electricity prices had increased significantly since 2020 after a decade of stagnation. The steep rise has resulted in billions of dollars in overdue power bills.  

Electricity inflation is being propelled by soaring costs of fossil fuels, such as natural gas, coal, and petroleum.

NatGas fuels about 40% of the US power grid and soared to the highest levels since 2008 on Tuesday. 

The chart below shows for the two decades, real electricity prices were relatively flat, except for the commodity boom times around the 2008 GFC. Now CPI less energy has peaked, though electricity continues to rise to a blistering 30% year on year. 

Utility shutoffs have become more common across the US as some lower-tier households are thousands of dollars behind on their power bills. 

Jean Su, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, which tracks utility disconnections across the US, warned of a “tsunami of shutoff” as the highest inflation in forty years eats away wages and has financially devastated the working poor.  

Adrienne Nice is one of those struggling Americans who is more than $3,000 behind on utility bills. Last month, she received a “final notice” from power company Xcel Energy Inc., who turned off the electricity to her studio apartment in Minneapolis as temperatures approached near triple digits. 

Nice found it near impossible to save money for utility expenses that have doubled over the past year as food, shelter, and gas prices have also skyrocketed. Her low-paying job as a housecleaner has left her in energy poverty. 

“I just don’t understand how electricity can be so high,” she said. 

Across the country, power companies reported a surge in non-payment customers. California’s PG&E Corp said there had been a 40% jump in the number of residential customers behind on payments since February 2020. New Jersey’s Public Service Enterprise Group said customers at least 90 days late have risen 30% since March. 

“People on the bottom, they can’t pay” their electricity bills, said Mark Wolfe, Neada’s executive director. 

Readers know that low-tier consumers are financially tapped out. They’ve maxed out credit cards, depleted savings, and have seen wage gains wiped out due to inflation. It comes as no surprise the US is becoming more like Europe, where energy poverty has doomed millions of households. 

It’s only a matter of time before the Biden administration starts handing out stimmy checks for electricity bills. 

Authored by Dave DeCamp via AntiWar.com,

The Ukrainian Agriculture Ministry reported Tuesday that a total of 33 cargo ships carrying about 720,000 tonnes of foodstuffs have left Ukraine since a deal to facilitate the export of grain out of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports was implemented.

The numbers show that the deal between Russia and Ukraine that was brokered by the UN and Turkey and signed in July has been a success. Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry said that in addition to the 33 ships that have left, another 18 are loading and are preparing to depart from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

The grain deal established a coordination center in Istanbul that is manned by officials from Turkey, Russia, Ukraine, and the UN. The coordination center said the total amount of grain and foodstuffs exported since the deal was signed has reached 721,449 tonnes.

Under the deal, Ukraine agreed to escort ships out of its heavily mined ports and Russia agreed not to attack the areas while vessels were moving. Both Turkey and the UN have said they hope the grain deal could lead to more negotiations between Russia and Ukraine and, ultimately, a peace deal.

This week UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that “Getting more food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia is critical to further calm commodity markets and lower prices for consumers.”

But there are no signs that peace talks will happen anytime soon as the US and other Western countries are pouring weapons into Ukraine and Ukrainian leadership insists they will take back the territory Russia has captured since February 24.

On top of sending billions in arms into Ukraine, the US has abandoned diplomacy with Russia and played no role in brokering the grain deal.

With a wealth assessed by Forbes of $14.9 billion in 2022, the Nigerian-born Aliko Dangote is the richest person in Africa.

As Statista’s Martin Armstrong details, the 65-year-old made his fortune primarily in the cement and sugar industries. The billionaire is the founder of Dangote Cement, Africa’s largest cement producer.

You will find more infographics at Statista

His net worth surpasses all others on the Africa rich list by a considerable margin, with Nicky Oppenheimer and his family in second place with $8.6 billion.

South Africa’s Oppenheimer made the bulk of his money in the diamond mining industry. Having inherited the family business, De Beers, Oppenheimer sold their remaining 40 percent stake to Anglo American for $5.1 billion in 2011.

Mining doesn’t get another mention in the top-8 of this list, though cement and sugar has not just been a recipe for riches for the aforementioned Dangote. With an estimated worth of $6.7 billion, Abdulsamad Rabiu of Nigeria also made his fortune via these avenues. According to Forbes, Rabiu inherited land from his father and initially set up his own business in 1988 importing iron, steel and chemicals.

Via EurasiaNet,

• Saudi Arabia has promised as much as $14 billion in investments in Uzbekistan, with $12 billion earmarked to address ongoing energy shortages.

• Saudi firm ACWA Power is set to build the world’s largest wind farm in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan.

• ACWA Power has already begun building two smaller wind farms in the Bukhara region.

Uzbekistan’s president has returned from a trip to Saudi Arabia with $14 billion in promised investments, his office says.

Of that, $12 billion is earmarked to address chronic energy shortages.

The agreements include a pledge for Saudi firm ACWA Power to build a 1.5 GW wind farm in Karakalpakstan. Uzbekistan’s Energy Ministry says it will be the world’s largest and will power 1.65 million homes. ACWA Power has already begun building two smaller wind farms in the Bukhara region.

This is welcome news to Uzbeks still sweating their way through a season of shortages.

With rising summer temperatures and drought putting strain on Central Asia’s hydropower networks, Uzbekistan has begun to experience electricity shortages in the hottest months in addition to the traditional blackout season of winter.

And plans for a Russian-built nuclear power plant look like no sure thing with Moscow under international sanctions. If the Saudis make good on their promises, analyst Kamoliddin Rabbimov suggested on his Facebook page, Uzbekistan may no longer need the Russian plant, which appears to be behind schedule.

ACWA also agreed to research the future of green hydrogen in Uzbekistan.

Shavkat Mirziyoyev and his Saudi hosts did not ignore fossil fuels altogether. A third document signed between the two Energy Ministries envisions investments in Uzbekistan’s natural gas industry. Uzbekistan is one of the world’s largest gas producers, but increasing domestic demand has forced it to phase out exports. 

Saudi media also reported that the two sides had inked an agreement to increase Uzbek labor migration to the kingdom. Millions of Uzbeks currently work in Russia.

At a meeting with the heads of some 20 large companies, Mirziyoyev pitched his privatization drive, an effort to roll back a legacy of statist policies pursued by the late Islam Karimov during his 25-year rule. By 2025 his government hopes to privatize, fully or partially, 75 percent of Uzbekistan’s nearly 3,000 state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and other assets, such as property. Many are small firms, but also up for sale are large enterprises in strategic sectors including energy and power generation; mining and minerals; and transportation. SOEs account for 55 percent of Uzbekistan’s economy. In the banking sector, that rises to over 80 percent, which Tashkent wants to cut by half.

But banks took a backseat in Mirziyoyev’s presentation. Whereas in the past “transparency” has been the buzzword at these types of conclaves, in Jeddah Mirziyoyev tailored his message to focus on “green energy” – exactly the kind of diversification that Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman has been pushing.

Mirziyoyev received an audience with the crown prince, making this the first state visit since Karimov visited in 1992. (Mirziyoyev attended a 2017 summit in Riyadh with Muslim countries and the United States.) The president also performed the umrah pilgrimage to Mecca. Before the trip, he signed a decree adding Saudi Arabia to the list of countries whose citizens can visit Uzbekistan visa-free.