How much is your local "Trump at the Pump Tax?"

The lowest level recently reported looks to be from mid 2023 at 347,158 thousand barrels with a last reported level of 414,825. In March, a release of 172,000 over four months was authorized. United States to Release 172 Million Barrels of Oil From the Strategic Petroleum Reserve | Department of Energy. Assuming the entire authorized amount is released, that should leave 242,825 in July.

There was funding for over a Billion USD for SPR repair and refill in the 2025 BBB as passed by the house. It was cut in half during the reconciliation process with the senate.

 

Trump wanted to use $3 billion from the stimulus package to do it. COVID wasn't putting the oil companies out of business, so this would fall outside the goals of the bill when there were other, more pressing things to spend the money on. The SPR was also at 13% below full. That isn't a level of need to fill.

And this doesn't change the fact that Trump is draining the SPR faster than any other president now. A withdrawal only needed because of his own actions.

Also here, MSN

 

And if true, what? We now have an elected criminal as president we have to let run wild because that’s how the cookie crumbles with elections. “I heard” is not a good reference.

 

“This isn’t like a cookie jar. Those barrels have got to be put back at some point and that will lead to higher prices,” said Matt Smith, lead oil analyst at energy intelligence firm Kpler.​

Dude, how is that not like a cookie jar? Do cookies spontaneously regenerate?

 

We live in Australia's premium renewable energy state. The big move now is into BESS (Battery Electricity Storage Systems) with the newer ones using LFP. South Australia sells power to the other states that are still playing catch up from coal fired generators.
Their no such thing as no power when the sun doesn't shine or the wind doesn't blow, the big solar farms store their generated energy ready to sell when the grid is not saturated.
As a result, the Federal Govt is lowering the price for household electricity per kwh and more than double the price drop for business electricity ....... but it did require a govt that could think in 21st century terms and technology, not 19th century thinking .....

I think the question needs to centre around sustainability that doesn't fill the air with toxins, the saving are not only at the fuel pump, brakes, oil and changes, the ability to sit in a tunnel or a highway/street, without the motor running, to stay either warm or cool, nothing can do that apart from an electric vehicle ......

T1 Terry

 

Our Gen 2 Prius with the extended range battery added (10kw) that continually topped up the hybrid battery, had a 100km (50 mile) range at anything up to 52mph (80km/h) It could be set to no ICE mode (Internal combustion Engine) so the block heating wasn't required.
The alternative would be to add a block heater that kept the system temp up while plugged in to recharge the battery, set to only run to keep the engine at just under operating temp for the hrs of likely use ..... No point in burning petrol to heat and engine that isn't required for driving, electricity is a lot cheaper for that sort of function.

T1 Terry

 

That has to be the ultimate sales pitch for battery storage at home. Charge the batteries from solar and cheap grid pwer and use that during peak power pricing times morning and evening.

Do they have V2L/H (EV battery to load or house) in the EV's allowed to be sold over there?

T1 Terry

 

some states yes - others no. Others allow offset of money charges for kWh's you might face, while others will "let" you sell back your excess to the grid for whatever the going surplus commercial rate is (versus the rate they may be charging their customers at a demand peak time)
Another trick the utility does is it keeps jacking up the fee "privilege" of you pushing power back to the grid. But having sold our home that we put 8 KW of panels on, we haven't been keeping up with the latest & greatest schemes

 

Remember, if you can't get a good deal selling electricity you generate on your land wherever you live, you can always invest in a generation project somewhere else with more favorable (and more profitable) rules. Mailbox money when done right.

I feel very fortunate that we were able to set up a system right in our own yard, but it is far from the only way to skin that cat. Some friends and relatives of ours who don't have apporpriate generation circumstances have found success in buying into cooperative systems.

 

They do, though I don't know if they can return power to the house outside of a power outage. The marketing stresses emergency power.

 

I'm curious. What's the typical rate/kwh?

 

Were ~ 11¢ higher (at costco)

 

They either don't have enough room to fit all the numbers for the diesel price, or they can't afford to stock it either.
I remember on another thread way back, there was a member who carried on about the price of diesel under the previous President and how low the prices were with DJT in the top job ..... I wonder why he isn't adding his views on this thread .....

That regular petrol price equates to $3.26ltr AUD, I think we are at around $2.40 here, it would be cheaper in the cities and even cheaper in the capital ...... but the Prius doesn't get a lot of use at the moment, we drive the MG4 EV everywhere.

T1 Terry

EDIT: Wife just informed me we are down to $1.81 ltr AUD, clearly been a long while since I put petrol in a car

 

With Time of Use type accounts, free during peak solar periods and some accounts actually pay you to store power in your home battery,
20 cents kwh on shoulder tariffs and anywhere up to 50 cents kwh during peak. Those who choose the fix rate option are averaging around 40 cents kwh.
On high demand periods, via certain provides, 50 cents kwh paid for energy back to grid and it is legal to be paid during over supply periods and then sell it back at peak periods ..... I'm guessing the SA Power Networks make good money selling to the other states during those peak demand times that they can still make good money paying 50 cents kwh to buy electrical energy.

The coal fired generators over here are getting well past their use by date, the owners aren't spending any money on maintenance, just fix it when it breaks philosophy, the older it gets, the more likely it is to fail during peak demand periods, until they are all gone and replaced by batteries and other power storage type systems, like pumped hydro, sand and salt heat storage and maybe tidal and off shore current generation so we are 98% renewable with the last 2% fast start up 4 stage gas generation remaining as the absolute last resort if the wind doesn't blow and the sun doesn't shine some where in a country larger than the USA ...... It's never gunna happen .......

T1 Terry

 

We can either have auto switching between mains supply and V2L as the house power supply, or use the likes of a Victron Multiplus or or Quattro inverter/charger to combine the V2L with the house batteries and with the Quattro, even mains or a generator to make up any shortfall in house demand
or
A dedicated solar/house battery/V2X/inverter set up that moves the excess to load solar DC direct to the EV and house batteries while have the ability to switch to drawing from the EV or house battery or both, if the house load exceeds the solar supply .... and if you are set up for it, even sell the excess back to the grid to make a few $$ to offset the charge for the privilege of being connected to the poles and wires .... These systems have scalable inverter set up that can be added to if the house demand increases and be islanded if the peak demand season has passed so the don't waste energy being in standby mode ....

I don't expect we will bother with connecting to the poles and wires and instead go with a stand alone off grid system ..... we didn't sell a govt asset paid for by the tax payer to private enterprise to charge us even more for the use of the system we owned, yet not upgrade or maintain it to the high standards they inherited, so I don't intend to pay their crazy fees to connect to their grid ......

T1 Terry

 

That is tourist trap pricing, not prices seen anywhere with meaningful competition. At those huge markups, they can certainly afford to stock it.

 

Why must we still tack an extra "9" digit onto the price of fuel (and nothing else)? Prices to a precision of less than a penny stopped making sense ages ago when the prices went from pennies a gallon to over a dollar.

 

Interesting photo, but not widely representative.....only 3.69 when I filled yesterday.......