Natural gas price decontrol: a comparison of two bills

Book · Sat Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1983

OSTI ID:5152022

As the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 approaches its 1985 partial deregulation date, Congress is once again considering natural gas pricing policy. The major issue in gas pricing policy today may be how to improve the efficiency and competitiveness of the gas market, rather than the redistribution of income from consumers to gas producers. This report examines two approaches to gas pricing policy, the decontrol provisions found in S. 1715, as reported by the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and the extended controls found in legislation proposed by Congressman Gephardt (H.R. 2154). These bills are compared to the existing provisions of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA), which serves as the base case. The NGPA allows much of the nation's gas to reach a competitive price in 1985, but preserves controls on some gas, notably low-cost gas from older fields sold in interstate markets. The results of this analysis indicate that, by 1990, the gas price differences resulting from these three measures are slight, and that the effects of the two new proposals on the natural gas market and on the economy, are often negligible when compared to the NGPA.

• OSTI ID: 5152022
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

03 NATURAL GAS
031000* -- Natural Gas-- Legislation & Regulations
29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
293000 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Policy
Legislation
& Regulation
294003 -- Energy Planning & Policy-- Natural Gas
DEREGULATION
ECONOMIC IMPACT
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
LAWS
LEGISLATION
NATIONAL ENERGY ACT
NATURAL GAS
NATURAL GAS POLICY ACT
PRICING REGULATIONS
REGULATIONS