As temperatures plunge across the region, Pennsylvanians are keeping warm with affordable, reliable natural gas. More than half of Pennsylvania households turn to natural gas for home heating, according to federal data. And, thanks to record natural gas production, consumers across the Commonwealth are realizing meaningful energy savings.

During a recent interview with WHP 580’s RJ Harris, MSC President Dave Spigelmyer commented on the energy savings benefiting Pennsylvania households:

“The good part is, in Pennsylvania, we’ve got record amounts of natural gas for consumers across the state. The savings are more than half of what they were in 2008, utility rates for purchased gas costs have dropped dramatically, from 53%-78% depending on which utility you subscribe across Pennsylvania.”

“We’re going to be staring into the teeth of winter these next few days, and I compare what happened in Pennsylvania to New York and New England. I think last winter there was a French vessel loaded with Russian LNG sitting in Boston Harbor for the month of February to supplement natural gas supply, primarily because New York has blocked pipeline development no only to their state but into New England.”

Unfortunately, however, some policymakers in Harrisburg continue to pursue a massive energy tax increase that would burden Pennsylvanians with higher energy costs, even though the natural gas impact fee – the state tax on natural gas development – is on track to generate a record $247 million this year and nearly $1.7 billion since 2012.

RJ Harris: “I’m paging through the Patriot and I see on Sunday, ‘Fee Collected from Drillers to Set Record.’ The article goes on to say that we’re going to make $247 million dollars this year from those fees.”

Spigelmyer: “Spread through all of the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania with special projects being funded all over the state. And RJ you can easily switch the name ‘fee’ to ‘tax’, because that’s exactly what it is.”

RJ Harris: “Well it is and that’s what has been argued all this time – that they’re already paying and they’re paying record amounts.”

Listen to the full interview below:

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