Walkers stroll along the Cook Inlet shoreline by Anchorage’s Kincaid Park on the afternoon of July 20, 2024. Mount Susitna is in the background. (Photo by Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Most residential Chugach Electric members in Anchorage pay 22.5 cents per kilowatt-hour for their electricity — far higher than the national average of 16.6 cents/kWh . Rural Alaskans pay even more, and there are few signs of improvement. The lion’s share of Anchorage’s energy comes from natural gas, which is becoming more expensive as development in Cook Inlet stalls.
LNG imports are likely coming to Anchorage, but advocates say policy changes can forestall them Cook Inlet isn’t running out of gas . The problem is that one privately held Texas company, Hilcorp, controls nearly 90% of Cook Inlet gas supply — a functional monopoly. Antitrust law exists for a reason. Monopolies can take advantage of consumers by artificially restricting the supply of goods and services, which in turn drives up prices. Hilcorp appears to be doing exactly that. Hilcorp claims that it does not have enough reserves to continue supplying our utilities, even as smaller operators report discoveries of large, untapped pools . The leading stopgap alternative, liquified natural gas imports, could produce price hikes for electricity and heat in the next few years.