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close video KT McFarland says US should use Reagan tactics against Russia: We need to become energy-dominant

K.T. McFarland, former deputy national security adviser, says the Ukraine-Russia war is ‘escalating’ and believes there needs to be a third option to end the war on ‘The Evening Edit.’

Energy prices have plummeted due to concerns over the banking crisis, but this is likely only a short-term dip, according to an energy expert. 

Unfortunately, this means customers who have been facing soaring bills won't see much relief. 

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) projected that the price of electricity, specifically in the residential sector, will increase in 2023 and in 2024. In 2022, the average cost of electricity in the U.S. was 15.12 cents per kilowatt-hour. That's projected to rise to 15.63 and 15.66 cents over the next two years, according to EIA data.   

Workers with Southern California Edison replace a transformer on Holt Street in Santa Ana, Calif., Sept. 10, 2021. (Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images / Getty Images)

"I'm afraid we're going to have to get used to a new era of higher energy prices across the board," Price Futures Group Senior Analyst Phil Flynn told FOX Business. Flynn is also a FOX Business contributor.

FOOD, RENT AND ENERGY PRICES REMAIN HIGH IN FEBRUARY INFLATION BREAKDOWN

Flynn explained that energy prices are plunging on concerns over the banking crisis, which unfolded two weeks ago when Silicon Valley Bank failed, and not because demand for oil supplies has suddenly dried up.  

"Supplies versus demand are about as tight as they have ever been," he added. 

HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROPOSE MAJOR ENERGY AND PERMITTING REFORM PACKAGE

A Pacific Gas & Electric worker walks in front of a truck in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu / AP Newsroom)

Global energy consumption has rebounded from the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, and supply was barely keeping pace with demand before the war in Ukraine further reduced stockpiles. As a result, energy prices remain elevated, squeezing already tight household budgets even further. 

The National Energy Assistance Directors’ Association (NEADA) announced in January it had the highest total number of Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) applications this winter since 2011 "as families struggle with paying some of their biggest home energy bills in more than a decade."

MARKETS MAY BE UNDERESTIMATING THE THREAT OF HIGH INFLATION, BLACKROCK WARNS

During winter, the number of households receiving energy assistance jumped by an estimated 1.3 million. This doesn't "even account for possible increases in applications this summer to help families pay for air conditioning as they deal with rising temperatures due to climate change," the NEADA added. 

If the banking situation stabilizes, it will actually make matters worse with respect to oil supplies, according to Flynn. 

An electric meter outside a home. (iStock / iStock)

"It will actually be more bullish for energy prices because the banks are going to be less likely to lend money," he said, adding that oil companies that are uncertain about the economy might not follow through on making investments in oil.

"On top of that, you have the current administration that makes it difficult to get a project off the ground anyway." 

UNDERLYING ENERGY MARKET CONDITIONS COULD SIGNAL PAIN FOR CONSUMERS THIS WINTER AND BEYOND

All those factors would contribute to a "massive underinvestment" in future supplies, which, in turn, could cause higher energy prices "for decades maybe to come," he added. 

"At the end of the day, demand is on an upward trend and production is not keeping up, and it's going to have a difficult time keeping up because the investment dollars just aren't there," he said. 

A gas stove lets off a blue flame inside a kitchen in Barcelona. (Davide Bonaldo/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Image / Getty Images)

If we want low energy prices at this point, you have to "be rooting for a recession or a major economic slowdown," Flynn noted. 

However, given that the supply and demand balance is so tight, "if the economy continues to grow, prices are going to have to go up to move demand and encourage future investment," according to Flynn. 

It's important to keep in mind, though, that bills are contingent on electricity usage as well as the price of energy. 

For instance, Consolidated Edison Inc., or ConEd, which provides energy to roughly 10 million people in New York City and Westchester County, has been advising customers to be "particularly mindful of managing their usage at a time when energy prices are high across the country." close video US energy needs to be ‘affordable, reliable and cleaner’: Chevron CEO Mike Wirth

Chevron Chairman and CEO Mike Wirth discussed the oil company’s growth outlook and Biden’s energy agenda on ‘Mornings with Maria.’

Luckily, a warmer winter helped to depress energy usage, meaning customers didn't see the big spike in bills that happened in January 2022, a spokesperson for ConEd told FOX Business. 

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Still, the company has been offering its customers payment plans to help ease the financial burden. 

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Reds: 1st since 1960 to lose 3 straight by 1-0

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Reds: 1st since 1960 to lose 3 straight by 1-0

MILWAUKEE — The Cincinnati Reds lost 1-0 to the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday night to become only the second team in the live-ball era (since 1920) to lose three consecutive 1-0 games.

The Reds joined the Philadelphia Phillies, who lost three straight in the same fashion in 1960, according to ESPN Research.

“Nobody’s happy with what’s happened the last three games,” Reds manager Terry Francona said after the string of 1-0 losses continued in the opener of a four-game series at Milwaukee. “We’ll figure it out together. I feel strongly about that.”

Cincinnati’s lineup showcased its potential Monday in a 14-3 victory over the Texas Rangers, but the Reds haven’t scored since.

Texas’ Nathan Eovaldi outdueled Carson Spiers on Tuesday. Jack Leiter and four Texas relievers combined for 10 strikeouts Wednesday as the Reds wasted a brilliant performance from Hunter Greene.

Milwaukee’s Nestor Cortes shut down Cincinnati on Thursday, allowing one hit, striking out six and walking two over six innings.

Cincinnati’s Nick Lodolo gave up four hits and one unearned run in 6⅔ innings Thursday, but he took the loss because the Reds mustered just two hits.

“It’s part of the game, you know?” Lodolo said. “I’ll be honest with you. Obviously I want us to score, but I’m not really thinking about it. I’ve got to do my job at the end of the day, regardless. We’ll turn it around. I guarantee that.”

That’s the attitude Francona wants to see from his pitchers as Cincinnati’s hitters try to break out of their slump.

“We’re not going to have a situation where it’s ‘us’ when we win and it’s ‘they’ when we lose,” Francona said. “We’ll do this together.”

Francona said there’s no common thread between the games that explains his lineup’s struggles. The Reds have faced different styles of pitchers each time.

Eovaldi is a veteran right-hander who went the distance while allowing four hits and no walks. Leiter’s a hard-throwing rookie right-hander. Cortes, a veteran left-hander, doesn’t have the velocity of Eovaldi or Leiter but effectively mixed his cutter and changeup with his fastball.

Cincinnati’s struggles Thursday may have been particularly frustrating because Cortes looked so awful in his last start, a 20-9 loss to the New York Yankees. Cortes allowed homers on each of his first three pitches that day and ended up yielding eight hits and five walks in two innings of a game that drew attention to the Yankees’ use of “torpedo bats.”

The Reds made Cortes look like an entirely different pitcher.

“It was embarrassing, what happened to me last time,” Cortes said. “I think, as a starter, you’ve got 30 or 32 of these. There’s going to be a lot of bad ones throughout the way. You’ve just got to learn how to brush them off and go to the next one. That’s what I did.”

The Reds’ lone hit off Cortes came from Jose Trevino, who delivered a one-out double in the third off his former Yankees teammate. Cincinnati’s only other hit Thursday was a single by Jeimer Candelario off Elvis Peguero in the seventh.

Cincinnati has a combined nine hits, three walks and 27 strikeouts during the skid.

“To be totally honest, you see this all the time throughout a baseball season,” Trevino said. “Pitchers will pick up the hitters and the hitters will pick up the pitchers. It will all switch at some point. We’re going to need them. They’re going to need us. And at some point, we’re all going to be together. That’s just how the baseball season goes.

“Right now, our pitchers are doing really well and our hitters, we’re grinding. It’s not like we’re out there trying to give outs away. We’re out there putting some good at-bats together. We’re going to turn this thing around. I have full confidence in this team.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Dodgers’ Freeman placed on IL after shower slip

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Dodgers' Freeman placed on IL after shower slip

Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman Freddie Freeman, who slipped and fell in the shower Sunday morning, was put on the injured list for his ankle injury, the team announced Thursday.

The move is retroactive to Monday. He hasn’t played since Saturday and is 3-for-12 this season with two home runs and four RBIs.

The incident happened at home during the Dodgers’ off day. Freeman’s wife had to drive him to Dodger Stadium on Sunday for a three-hour treatment session. By the time it was over, he was able to drive himself home. An X-ray showed no serious damage.

Freeman sprained his right ankle on a play at first base in late September and struggled in the first two rounds of the postseason, but it was hardly evident during the World Series. He homered in the first four games and had 12 RBIs, earning the World Series MVP award as the Dodgers beat the New York Yankees in five games.

He had debridement surgery in December to remove loose bodies in the ankle.

The Dodgers (8-0) begin a three-game series at the Philadelphia Phillies on Friday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Judge gets 500th extra-base hit; 3rd-fastest Yank

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Judge gets 500th extra-base hit; 3rd-fastest Yank

NEW YORK — Aaron Judge smiled and perhaps blushed when informed of Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s praise.

“We all tell him every day: ‘Hey, we want to be you when we grow up,'” Chisholm said after Judge became the third-fastest New York Yankees player to reach 500 extra-base hits with a three-run homer in the first inning of Thursday night’s 9-7 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

And the two players who reached the mark in fewer games than Judge? Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig.

“When I’m an old man coming to Old-Timers Day, I can look back and we can joke about it and laugh about it,” Judge said.

Coming off his second American League MVP award, Judge fell a triple short of the cycle and is hitting .417 with five homers and 15 RBIs in the first six games this season. He has 320 homers, 175 doubles and five triples in 999 games, and only DiMaggio (853) and Gehrig (869) reached 500 extra-base hits in fewer games among Yankees.

“I feel like he’s still getting there, which is remarkable,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “It’s that part of me that takes him for granted a little bit. I just feel like he should get an extra-base hit every time. I kind of say it out loud just to try and remind myself what we’re watching every day.”

Judge lined a 1-1 fastball from Merrill Kelly at 112.1 mph to the opposite field and into the Yankees’ bullpen for a 3-0 lead. He added a run-scoring single in the fourth inning as the Yankees moved ahead 7-3 and hit a 111.3 mph double in the sixth. He also flied out and hit a 109.5 mph groundout.

“I’m like, did you miss that one?” Boone recalled, laughing. “I catch myself having these ridiculous conversations with him sometimes, just because he keeps setting the bar so darn high.”

Judge knows he’s in for ribbing when he singles or doubles.

“He gives me a little smirk when I get on base like that,” he said.

Judge also stole his first base of the season, as did Chisholm. Judge swiped 10 last year to Chisholm’s 40.

“I told him I was going to catch him in stolen bases this year,” Judge said playfully.

“He’s starting to steal bags now. It’s just getting ridiculous out of him, man,” Chisholm said.

Chisholm and Trent Grisham hit two-run homers off Kelly (1-1), who allowed a career-high nine runs, nine hits and three walks in 3 2/3 innings. Chisholm is hitting .292 with four homers and eight RBIs.

“I’m OK compared to him. I’m trying to get to his level right now,” Chisholm said of Judge. “I told him I’m not going to try to fall behind him too far. I got to keep up with him.”

New York had 22 homers on a 4-2 opening homestand, five more than any other team ever hit in its first six games. Even though it was game No. 6, the Yankees felt an urgency after losing the Tuesday and Wednesday.

“Big G said a couple words before the game, just about this was our home turf. We got to go out there and we don’t get swept at home,” he said of Giancarlo Stanton. “Guys took that to heart.”

Carlos Carrasco (1-0) got his first Yankees win, giving up three runs and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. After New York opened a 9-3 lead, Geraldo Perdomo hit a seventh-inning grand slam off Ryan Yarbrough. Luke Weaver got four outs for his first save this season, ending Arizona’s three-game winning streak.

Judge repeatedly refers to last year’s World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers. It weighs on him far more than historical accomplishments.

“Especially after last season where we weren’t able to finish the job, guys are motivated to go out and do something special,” he said. “It starts every game you play.”

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