Today we had the pleasure of hosting David Holt, President of the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), for an important discussion on electricity affordability and reliability for consumers. David’s background is in government affairs with over thirty years of experience working for state and federal agencies and directing outreach and advocacy efforts. The CEA will be celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2025 and has nearly 400 corporate members and over 550,000 individual members representing families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, labor organizations, manufacturers, and energy providers. Beyond his leadership at the CEA, David also serves as Managing Partner of HBW Resources, a consultancy specializing in strategic planning and government affairs in the energy, transportation, and environmental sectors. We were thrilled to have the opportunity to visit with David.
 
In our conversation, David first provides background on the CEA and the groups they represent as well as their “all of the above” approach to meeting energy needs in an affordable, reliable, and sustainable manner. David shares his perspective on the impact of energy policies on prices, concerns with reliability, how energy policy has become overly politicized with a focus on environmental aspects at the expense of affordability and reliability, the role of inflation in the current energy landscape, and the need for increased investment in natural gas infrastructure. We discuss permitting and signaling issues, regulatory framework and regional differences between oil and gas and the electricity sector, factors contributing to the increase in electricity prices, identifying reliable sources of information for understanding energy costs, policy implications, and environmental impacts, and strategies for educating and mobilizing consumers to advocate for their interests in energy policy decisions. We explore voter influence on policy, the role of US oil and natural gas production in moderating global oil prices, the future of the CEA, the challenges of getting the public’s attention on energy and power issues, the CEA’s reaction to recent policies including the IRA, and more. David was a fantastic guest and we greatly enjoyed the conversation.
 
Mike Bradley highlighted a few topics to kick us off. He noted the 10-year government bond yield looks to have found some temporary support at 4.65% and flagged that this could be an unusually volatile trading week for markets (especially bonds) given that both the JOLTS Job Openings Report and FOMC Rate Decision will be taking place on Wednesday. WTI (~$82/bbl) has pulled back recently on the news of a temporary cooling in Mideast tension; nevertheless, he noted that the 2024 crude oil S/D setup still looks very constructive. Q1 earnings for the Magnificent Seven tech stocks will be winding up this week and investor focus will begin shifting to the other 60% of the S&P 500 for near-term direction. On the energy equity front, over seventy energy and electric utility companies will be reporting Q1 results this week with a heavy focus on E&P, Midstream & Electric Utility companies. He ended by flagging that electricity growth will be a more widely discussed topic/theme across most of the reporting energy and electric companies, just as it has been for industrial companies so far in the Q1 reporting season. Todd Scruggs prepped us for our discussion with David by sharing data on electricity costs across the United States. Comparing recent data from February and last summer, he found that California and Northeastern states consistently pay the most, while the West South-Central region pays the least, even during peak summer months.
 
We look forward to following the CEA’s progress and will be sure to share their state electricity scorecards when they’re launched. Thank you again to David for joining and thanks to you all for your support and friendship!